


Who Waits For Love?

by lottea



Category: The School for Good and Evil - Soman Chainani
Genre: Angst, Aric with a heart, Aric with a soul, Book 2: The School for Good and Evil, Canon-Typical Violence, Dom/sub, Dom/sub Undertones, Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Injury, Kind of Canon Compliant, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, OOC, Romance, Slash, Teenage Dorks, Teenage Drama, but don't mind that ahah, drama and, drama and rom, ooc aric, writing exercise that went too far
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-09-24 15:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 24,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20360797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lottea/pseuds/lottea
Summary: Enter Denzel, a prince hailing from Maidenvale, the son of one of the twelve dancing princesses who's just trying to survive his friends' whirlwind fairy tale. Now there's a war brewing between Girls and Boys but let's think about that later, shall we? For now in this godforsaken School for Boys, he has to survive Aric, the psychotic replacement for the old beast with a soft spot for Denzel.The problem is that Denzel might like him too.An old what-if writing exercise from a couple of years ago that kinda got out of control. I decided that I might as well post it. I dunno. It's actually really long and I have it all written out up until book 3-4-ishA not-so-AU where Aric actually has a soul and is gay as HECC. More of a reader insert, but hey, give the OC a fairy tale too.





	1. Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> I've also got this posted on the School For Good and Evil's website under the fan fiction community group! Username: OWLONTHEPROWL and I update both here and there. 
> 
> A what-if writing exercise that kind of got out of control while I was reading Book 2 a couple of years ago when it first came out. Aric's OOC but y'know what? That's ok. That's the beauty of fanfiction. You can give him feelings.

It was strange with all the girls gone. It was like having the princes-only chivalry classes with professor Lukas only on a much, much grander scale. At first, everyone was scared and unsure of what was to come after the School Master had been killed and the entire balance of Good and Evil had been overthrown. What would happen now? Would this ever go back to normal? 

After Sophie and Agatha were whisked away right before the entire school's eyes, everything slowly descended into a controlled chaos. Tedros retreated to the Schoolmaster's tower right away, eager to get his hands on the Storian before anyone else. Then, everyone went back to their castles. Like a normal day, a normal night, like they hadn't just participated in a grande school-wide battle royale single-handed orchestrated by a witch. And then came the ejection.

The Boys, both Ever and Never, were at a loss for what to do next. Sure, some had been organized by Tedros to keep watch on the shield between the Reader’s world and ours, but the rest of us were simply idle, left to wait. There were no teachers after they charged Halfway Bridge the night they found out about the Girls’ new dean. There were no wolves to bring order to the castle. No authority whatsoever. No one to tell them what to do. No one to tell them how to fix all of this. Agatha and Sophie were gone, back to who knows where. 

So the Boys’ solution? 

To party like there was no tomorrow. Sure, all of them had that lingering fear of the unknown in this new, strange, segregated world, but for now, they would just drown all that out with the cries of their own voices and the relief of freedom. 

** 

I could tell I was making them uncomfortable the more I stared at them. The burly boys sitting across Tedros flicked their eyes towards me, then they darted elsewhere. Every few seconds, they’d look back up at me again to find me staring intently down at them unblinkingly. I eyed the sweat tracing their hairline and chuckled inwardly. 

Standing beside me, Tristan cowed visibly at the sight of the intruders. I heaved a sigh; I had been sure he made some improvement to that abysmal self-esteem of his, but that was being tested right now before these boys. Sure, they were bigger, stronger and taller than the both of us, but you don’t see me shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind. 

Sitting in his grand chair in front of us, Tedros leaned over the desk and glowered darkly at the unknown intruders. He ignored the flailing Storian chained to the desk just inches from stabbing his hand as the group’s menacing leader sat across from him. 

“Who are you?” Tedros hissed, punctuating each word clearly throughout the room. “And how did you get _in?_”

The one who seemed to be the leader of the gang had a smirk stretched across his face. He sat back in his chair as if this were a leisure tea outing rather than an interrogation. His eyes read as cold, callous and calculating, lazily roaming through the room and over us like he were a welcome guest. “I am Aric,” said the teenager. He waved a hand over the rest of the boys sitting around him. “And these are my henchmen.” 

He was tall and fair with a murderous aura, and seemed to be the type to stab you in the back the moment you turned around. _Snake. _Was what I thought when I first laid eyes on him as he strode confidently into the School Master’s tower flanked by our princes. 

I narrowed my eyes at his flippant expression, wondering why he would be so amused in this situation. Definitely up to no good. Definitely a snake.

“And how you got in?” I interjected sternly. His gaze flicked up to mine, making me freeze when I saw that his eyes were a shocking purple. 

He smiled, confident and self-assured. “I don’t think you’re the one leading this discussion right now,” Aric said calmly while sizing me up as he took in my smaller—weaker—stature. “So if you’re finished interrupting us, why don’t you leave?” 

His henchmen behind him sniggered while I offered him a glare that spelled death. A condescending snake. 

I could feel Tristan jabbing his finger into my arm, telling me to knock it off. “He’s trouble, Denzel,” He whispered beside me, “It’s not worth it—“

But that arrogant look he gave me rubbed me the wrong way. And who was he to tell us around in our own school? I growled and took a step forward, eyes trained onto Aric—

“Oh, look at that. The little puppy’s angry,” Aric cooed, eliciting cackles from the other boys. “Why don’t you be a good boy and roll over, eh?” 

“Denzel has a point.” Tedros’ voice cut sharply through the chuckles, one arm raised to bar me behind him. I was already at the edge of his desk, ready to throw a punch at our dear guest. 

Tedros glanced between Aric and I, frowning. “There is no need for conflict here today,” he said, then he looked at me. “Denzel, stand down.” 

“Why not? What can he do to me?” I spat, eying Aric with contempt. “I could take this boy.” 

“We aren’t getting anywhere in this interrogation,” Tedros pressed, gripping my forearm. Remember our purpose, his eyes told me. 

I took a deep breath. We were to strengthen the school. Find his princess. End this feud between sexes and return Good and Evil. Right. This boy who had appeared out of thin air was insignificant. But he could be useful.

I stepped back, simmering quietly. 

“Take me?” Aric mocked, “Don’t underestimate me, you tart—” 

“Not the point here,” Tedros groaned, running a hand through his hair. “Just answer the damn question.” 

The other boy rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I broke through the shield.” 

Through the shield? Lesso’s shield? Not even the best mages in the school could scratch that bubble, let alone make a hole big enough for those walls of meat to get through. That’s— 

“Impossible,” Tedros said, finishing my thought. “How?”

Aric held a finger to his lips, pulled into a smirk once again. “That’s a secret.”

I huffed. Trying to by mischievous and cryptic for the sake of intimidation. He'd have no strength--no power--to back it up anyways.

“Then why are you here?” Tedros asked, “What do you want with our school?”

Aric’s grin seemed to grow even wider. Maniacal, even. “That’s also a secret.” 

“Then how do you expect us to let you stay?” I muttered. It wasn’t loud enough for Aric or any of his henchmen to hear but Tedros shot me a glare from where he was sitting. I kicked the back leg of his chair. 

“I’ll ask you once more. Since I became the new School Master for this School for Boys, I am their protector and it is my responsibility to maintain their safety. That is why I must know,” Tedros growled, no longer giving off the aura of a peace-bringer to the discussion. “What business do you have with this school?”

Aric’s face didn’t change at Tedros’ pressing advances. “Fine then,” Aric drawled. “Let’s just say that I have an investment in your fairy tale. An investment that also affects my fairy tale and how I get to kill my nemesis.” 

Tedros furrowed his eyebrows at the word ‘kill.’ But taking into account that he was a villain, and the natural order of fairy tales, he hummed and muttered a “fair enough,” while sifting through a stack of papers in front of him. “Then might I interest you in a position here? We’re lacking in the disciplinary area these days. And you look. . . “ he eyes the boys up and down, “well enough for the job.” 

“Is that so?” Aric said, a dark eyebrow raised. Around him, snickers flew from his henchmen around him. 

“Just let me find our rosters so I can organize a room for the lot of you,” Tedros said, digging through the drawers in the steel desk. As he did that, Aric directed his gaze back to me with a cryptic smile, eyes darkening like an oncoming storm. My eyes darted to his hand dropping to his waist where rusted dagger was strapped to his belt loop. 

He locked eyes with me--made sure he did. As if he wanted to make sure that I could catch a glimpse of the bloodlust within. And I did. Raw and primal and hungry.

“That would be excellent, Master Tedros,” Aric purred, his voice dripping like sweet honey. It sent a shudder up my spine. 

Now I knew what Tristan was afraid of.


	2. Welcoming Party

It didn’t take me long to figure out that I had sorely underestimated Aric. 

Sorely.

Ever since this mysterious villain entered the boys’ castle and claimed the title of Chief Torturer, he seemed to have put himself on a pedestal above all the others. In the span of only a couple of days, Aric had already made a fearsome name for himself as the Beast’s replacement. 

Every day, I would see Aric or one of his henchmen flagging down a boy in the hallways or in the dining hall to be dragged down to the dungeons by their neck for a beating. 

No one knew what horrors took place in those dungeons. 

No one dared to question it nor did their victims want to recount the details. 

By the second week after his introduction, nearly half the school had been personally punished by Aric. And with each person they came back tight-lipped and obedient. Boys were cowering with their tails between their legs at the mere sight of Aric. I should know—I was one of them too. 

But after a while, I had never gotten called out by him once—even when the entire student body had already been punished at least three times for having an untucked shirt. Almost like he was turning a blind eye towards me. I dismissed the thought and considered myself lucky. 

And it was just my luck that he was assigned to my room as my bunk-mate. Every other boy in the castle gave me sympathetic looks, but I could see the relief in their eyes, knowing that it wouldn’t be them sharing a bunk with Aric. 

I had to steel myself against him. I refused to let him think I was a weak person. “Too weak to be a proper prince,” was what some of the kids in school would say when I was younger. And for a while, I let myself believe that too. That was, until I had received the acceptance letter and flowerground pass to the School for Good two years ago. But even if the School Master had looked into my soul and chosen me, I still had my doubts. 

Would I have what it takes to be a prince? Would I be able to pass and find myself in the Woods on a daring adventure in the next four years? Was I worthy enough to have my story told by the legendary Storian? were all questions I had asked myself as I clung to the neon Flowerground vines swinging me around on my way to the School.

That’s why I never understood why Aric made me one of his henchmen out of the blue. 

With the lines of Good and Evil blurring together, it wasn’t a rare sight for a prince and a villain conversing at the same lunch table or to be on the same quest team. 

But that’s beside the problem. 

The problem was that I wasn’t like the other burly henchmen he found from outside the school in the Woods. They all were strong—much more stronger than I was. All the other students shied from biceps as thick as their heads and lean thighs capable of crushing melons. 

I on the other hand, barely knew Aric for more than a few weeks. A sack of lean arms and limbs that stuck out like a sore thumb next to these behemoths. I had always doubted my spot on their team. While the others envied what seemed to be my immunity, I couldn’t help but feel my pulse pound whenever I saw him, fearing that the waiting game would eventually lead to my downfall. 

But the henchmen accepted me quickly, with only a single word of advice: 

Aric was never fond of anyone. Good or Evil. Girl or Boy. No, not fond at all. 

Two weeks before then I was in line with the other boys, practically prostrating myself before him while he pranced around like he owned me. Like he owned us. Like he owned this school. 

“Get back in line, coward.” A deep voice snarled as violet eyes bore into red-haired Tristan, who had just attempted to break formation and bolt. He was quavering like he was in the middle of an earthquake as Aric scolded him. 

I cast my eyes downward to avoid making any eye contact with that dog. Who knew what he would do if I so much as looked at him. 

The entire castle shared my sentiments. I always did my best to avoid his gaze, looking away as if I had never noticed that he entered the room. Definitely a Never, the others would whisper as he walked past. Definitely Evil. Definitely a villain. 

Which was strange, because he didn’t seem to look like one. 

The older teenaged boy was well built and sturdy with a jawline that could cut through steel. He had spiky, inky black hair that contrasted with pale skin so thin that I could see his blue veins pulsing beneath it. He was menacingly handsome, unlike the other doughy, pimply, disfigured Nevers who lined the halls that morning. 

Of course, his handsome physique betrayed his face and putrid personality. He was usually either scowling or smirking like a feral hyena, matching the dangerous aura he radiated. But what stood out the most about him were his eyes—a deep, luminescent violet that seemed to glow like a firefly’s light in the dimly lit castle. 

I watched him glare at each of the boys disgustedly with those same eyes as we all lined up in two rows facing each other, a hand pressed to our foreheads in salute and surrendering our loyalty to our new Chief Torturer. 

“Why are we here anyways?” I heard a prince whisper beside me. “We’ve been standing like this for nearly half an hour.” 

“My arm’s stiffening up.” Another boy to my left complained. I glanced over, pivoting my head ever so slightly to see his arm shaking at his forehead. 

Why were we here? Oh, right. Tedros decided to give a roll call to welcome our new replacement for the Beast and his pack of wolves to get him familiar with the school. In reality, because of his horrendous personality and attitude towards the other boys, no one cared enough for Aric to look at him, much less assemble and display ourselves to him like pieces of meat for sale at a Sunday marketplace. And boy, were they taking their sweet time. 

Upturned noses and grim expressions skulked down the line as Aric and his henchmen inspected the faces of every single boy that occupied this castle, both Ever and Never. I heard the thundering sound of the soles of the leather boots on the floor in front of me and I knew he was here. 

I stiffened, straightening myself up. Am I standing straight enough? Is my foot positioning awkward? Am I breathing too loudly? What if he hears me swallow? Can he tell that I’m nervous? I saw Aric’s men point at me and cackle. I bet he can. I pressed my lips together and stared at the floor, wishing that he would just pass me by. Hurry up, I pleaded. 

The hulking shadow lingered before me for a few seconds longer and I felt his eyes scanning my body up and down. I panicked, feeling my heart skitter into my stomach. He only picked on the scrawny boys with slim and slight figures. Probably wants us to bulk up in case of a war against the girls. I discreetly looked down at myself and gulped. I’m dead meat for sure.

“Stop looking so nervous, apple tart. I can smell your fear from here,” Aric hissed, leaning down close to me, baring ragged teeth in my face. I could feel his warm breath fan my face and my salute faltered. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you a proud, boisterous Prince? Aren’t you a valiant, chivalrous knight of Good? Aren’t you a boy?”

Aren’t you a lousy jerk? I wanted to snap back, but my mouth refused to open. 

“What’s your name?” Aric asked, although it sounded more like a demand. "I never learned your name from our little meeting before." 

“Denzel, sir,” I muttered quietly, focusing my eyes on anywhere except his stupid, smug face. 

“Denzel,” Aric hummed quietly, licking his bottom lip as he studied my face. I felt my heart flitter in my chest, feeling uncomfortable at the way he reviewed me so intently. I could feel my body shake, feeling the pitying stares of every boy in the hallway burning into me. 

A calloused hand roughly grabbed my chin upwards towards the light and I found myself staring into Aric’s eyes, stained an unnatural violet hue. They looked venomous—bold and vivid like an aposematic signal, warning me to stay away at all costs. This boy was definitely bad news. He pursed thin lips as he looked down upon me. 

“Chin up,” He commanded, releasing his grip on my face. I only stared up at him dumbly, trying to process his words while at the same time calculating an escape plan that had a 110 percent chance of failing horribly. 

“You’re slouching,” He lashed, glaring at me in the eyes again. He reached behind me and jabbed me sharply in the back between my shoulder blades. I felt a jolt in the place he touched that made my entire body quake. 

“You can’t possibly hope to learn discipline if you don’t have the proper posture,” he said. 

“Now puff your chest out.” Aric prodded my nose. “Eyes up.” I felt his hand nudging my forearm. “Raise your arm higher.” Little by little, Aric readjusted my limbs as though I were a toy figure until he stood back, satisfied with his work. 

Huh, I thought. I focused my eyes forward, feeling myself slowly regain shreds of my wavering confidence, even daring myself to look Aric in the eye. He hummed at his handiwork. 

“That’s better, isn’t it, love? Even if you still look pathetic,” He chorused, giving my body one last look before moving onto the next boy beside me, surveying how much work needed to be done in this castle. 

He faced the formation with his arms behind his back at attention, glaring down at each and every boy that resided in the school for Boys. “Not to worry. Now that every one of you in this castle belongs to me, I’ll be whipping you all into shape. When I’m done with you sorry lot, you’ll be soldiers. I’ll turn all of you pansies—you boys—into men.”


	3. He's Strange

How did the boys behave themselves before this? I thought as I hitched up the collar of my sleeveless leather shirt to cover my nose as I ran through the room, ducking under the meaty, flailing and jostling limbs to the hallway on the opposite side. 

Before Girls and Boys, the princes were perfectly fine on their own; composing themselves during lunches in the Great Clearing, showering after their daily physical training, keeping it in their pants, and the like. Usually, the only break in their behavior would be during gatherings with both Good and Evil, with the banter in Good and Evil’s rivalry. But even that was limited to jeering and name-calling and the occasional graffiti and defacement of Evil property. 

But without the teachers, the princes went wild with their newfound freedom. Free from trying to impress girls and balls and chivalry and valor. They didn’t have to be princes anymore—now they were just boys. 

While this may sound like a good thing—giving the boys a break from playing uptight and snooty—unfortunately, this meant that they literally did go wild. 

The princes ate all the food readily available in the castle and the enchanted pots, pans and utensils were now on strike and in hiding. They swung from chandeliers and the banisters and vandalized the entire castle with who knows what on the walls. They marked their territories like dogs and even flooded multiple floors of the castle, leaving many to bunk up with their friends on the higher floors. In all, they were doing no service to this rickety, rotting and smelly castle. 

“At least the Neverboys have some decency in them,” I complained, trying not to inhale the pungent odor that wafted through the entire castle. Not enough windows in this godforsaken castle. My chest rumbled with the thundering rancor of the princes, matching the sounds of their stomping leather boots and voices chanting to Chaddick’s anthem about brotherhood like a glorified boy scout. 

Hopefully, we could find a way to revive the teachers soon to restore order. Not that anyone was currently working that out at the moment. Tedros seemed too hopped up on his power as the School Master to even care about restoring order to a castle he already controlled. 

As I made my way to the common rooms, I saw Aric sauntering down the hallway in front of me and I swear, his eyes were glowing. God, his eyes were so menacing. With his eloquence and steely determination, I would have thought he was a classic storybook villain. 

I didn't know why I was scared. He was just a boy. That's what everyone said to themselves. But something about him instilled fear. Cold, unrelenting, gripping fear. It didn't matter if he was strong or ruthless or not. He just radiated raw, terrifying menace that cut through the air like a knife. 

Was the old Beast this terrifying? I had only seen him once while I had peeked into a school-wide staff meeting. He was scary alright, but after Agatha’s performance in the talent show, I knew that they all were human in some way—even in heart. A human in a Beast’s form.

But Aric. 

My heart thundered to the beat of the Princes’ chants, pulsing in my ears. 

He was a beast masquerading as a human. 

And everyone knew that nothing Good ever came from putting a prince and a villain together. 

He was getting closer now. Definitely not good. I quickly straightened up and flattened myself against the wall, holding my hand to my head in a firm salute, remembering what he told me yesterday. Aric’s eyes followed my fearful figure until he stopped in front of my feet with a raised brow. 

“My, you really are sight,” Aric clucked. I heard him click his tongue against his teeth. 

“Denzel, was it? Of all the boys I’ve seen yesterday, I think I remember you the most,” Aric hummed, pressing closer to me. Close enough that I could feel his body heat radiating off of him. I shrunk like a mouse pinned under a cat’s paw, feeling his breath fanning the side of my neck. 

“Yes, something about you definitely stood out to me compared to the others,” He purred sultrily. Aric reached out towards my waist, tracing the curve. “How could I ever forget those slender hips, those pretty, sheepish eyes and such a cute, delicious face?” 

“Why, I think I could just eat you up for dessert,” Aric said, slowly backing me against the wall as my salute faltered. His gaze suddenly darkened with murder. “In fact, you’re quite the feminine boy, aren’t you? Almost as if you aren’t a boy at all.” 

“Aric?” I peeped. My eyes dove to his right hand placed against the whip clasped to his belt hook. I felt my face pale with understanding. 

“A bit pathetic, really. Disappointing,” Aric crooned, looking me up and down. “You look so frail, I bet I could snap you like a twig right here.” 

His eyes flicked to mine, pale fingers curling around the handle of his whip. “Maybe after supper I can bring you down to the dungeons and teach you what it means to be a real boy.” 

Fear flashed through my eyes, face whitening. It didn’t take a scientist to know exactly what he was implying. “I-I—“ My voice broke off as dread filled my body. I began to debate if it was worth escaping but outrunning Aric was like outrunning a faerie on a sugar high: impossible. 

But then I heard him chuckle, amusement dancing through his eyes as if he was playing a game of hide and seek. “Cute when you’re scared, aren’t you? Don’t worry your pretty little head, my sweet,“ he said—

“Captain!” A voice bellowed down the hall. 

Aric’s head whipped over to the sound with a snarl. I looked over and saw one of Aric’s henchmen approaching us. 

“It’s time to report our findings to Master Tedros.” He eyed us warily and I suddenly became a bit more aware of our position: I was pressed against the wall, flushed with relief while Aric was mere millimeters from my body, watching my every move with a mischievous smirk dancing across his lips. 

He gave me one last glance and grinned maniacally. “This chance encounter changes nothing between us. Is that alright, my apple tart?” Aric leaned down and whispered into my ear. “You are still below me—I catch you doing anything ignorant and rest assured, I will act upon my words earlier.” 

Aric’s grin dropped into his usual frown again and he nodded at his henchmen, the two of them striding out of the hallway like prideful lions. 

I slid to the floor behind them, clutching the fabric of my shirt where my heart was, begging to be let out of my chest. I let my pulse slow down as I watched Aric and his henchmen walk away. “This,” I breathed, “This is no good for my heart.”

A couple of meters away, the burly henchmen beside Aric glanced over at the other Never. 

“Haven’t seen you act like that to anyone before. Almost as if you fancied him,” he remarked absentmindedly. “Were you flirting with that boy?”

Aric snorted. “Of course not. That’s nonsense,” he said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black leather breeches. Aric only grinned, full of mischief. “Just taken an interest in him is all.” 

**

That night I dreamt of a prince. Only, the prince wasn’t me. 

Which was strange, since I was a prince. 

We were in a gorgeous garden, with beautiful blue trees spanning the horizon, babbling brooks running beside us and blue skies in the springtime. It was picturesque. Like something out of a storybook. Maybe I read it somewhere. A dream birthed of some form of yearning. 

I looked down at myself, expecting to be a nameless, faceless princess in the depths of my dream. . . but it was still me in my Everboy uniform. Strange. 

I look back up at the prince, donning a regal black suit that contrasted against his snow white skin. The boy was tall, sweeping ahead and leading me by the hand down a meadow to a Happily Ever After of our own. It was like something out of a storybook, inspiring love and happiness blooming in my heart. Although he had a broad back and shoulders, he pulled me along through flowers with a gentle hold. I looked around at the woods around us, raining shimmering pastel petals into our hair. 

He turned around to look at me with a smile. 

I gasped, horrified. 

Convulsing, I jolted up from the bed with a cold sweat down my back. I clambered out of bed and peeked up at the top bunk, where a hulking teenager lay slumbering under the covers. Lying back down, I tried to ignore the face in my dream, tried to erase it from behind my eyelids, but his purple irises were unmistakable. 

It wasn’t a prince in my dream. 

I wrapped the blanket tighter around me, pulling it over my head, willing myself to forget the tenderness in his eyes. 

Not a prince at all.


	4. Nasty Words

Aric raised an eyebrow at me, cocky and demeaning from the doorway of our shared dorm. Still cool, collected as he leaned against the frame with his arms crossed. “So you’re not going to the extra combat practice?” 

I let out a breath and looked up at him from my book. “What reason would I have to?” 

“To improve your skills. Sharpen them. We’re here to make you soldiers, remember? Trying not to get you killed during the war, poppet,” Aric said. Then he honed in on me with his eyes, giving me his signature snake-like smirk. “It’s also taught by yours truly.” 

“Lovely,” I muttered, and I tapped the book in my lap, pasting on my best smile. The ones that villains loathed. “But it looks like I can’t. You know. Homework and all.” 

He hissed, the corner of his lips turning up into a sneer. “Don’t lie to me, Denzel. You’re one of our top students and I know for a fact you already finished your work an hour ago.”

My smile disappeared, eyes narrowed at him. 

He rolled his eyes and jerked his chin to a stack of homework on my nightstand. “Took it upon myself to look through it while you were in the bathroom.” 

That prat. Always one step ahead. Always a pain in my behind. I bit back a sigh and slammed my book shut on my bed, trying to ignore his grimy, victorious smile. 

“That’s an invasion of privacy, by the way,” I groused as I pushed past him out of the room. “Next time I’ll throttle you.” 

“Nice word choice in your history report, by the way,” He sniggered. “Next time don’t make it so flowery. Thought I was in a garden while I was skimming through it.” 

Iron clashed against iron as Aric called a succession of swordplay moves, blades connecting violently with each other. The other boys in the room who didn’t bother to join the princes for their house party observed and took note of us as we trained in the common room, backlit by the crackling fireplace. The majority of them rooted for me, vindictive of their new punisher until he changed their minds with a single promising glare, shirking into the stiff armchairs that littered the lounge. 

I caught my reflection in the blade of the sword in the crystal chandelier’s weak light, sweat beading at my brow and dripping down the side of my face. I pivoted and saw the shiny finish of my opponent’s snake crest in my sword, gleaming a brilliant dark red, almost mocking me. It was bright. 

We had been at it for the last fifteen minutes and while I was already winded, Aric looked as fresh as a daisy in the springtime. So far, every single boy who’s sparred with him during training had lost. 

I took a step back and cast us both into the light of the cobwebbed chandelier, careful not to bump into the table behind me. Aric followed me, thrusting his sword towards my heart. I dodged it and angled my sword at just the right incline to bounce the light reflecting off of my sword into his eyes. Aric slammed his eyes shut and recoiled, letting me disarm and trip him. I held the tip of my sword to his throat, grazing his Adam’s apple. 

The boys in the room howled and slammed their fists on the tables and armrests as I finally broke Aric’s merciless winning streak. I held out my hand to Aric, who only snarled at me with jagged teeth but I caught the flash of respect in his eyes. 

“Finally put you in your place, did I?” I asked, hand still outstretched to him. 

Aric ignored my hand and pushed himself up. I watched as he dusted himself off as he met my gaze, a sneer plastered across his face.

“You may have beat me there with a clever trick, but remember that I can still easily dominate you, darling,” Aric purred lasciviously. The way he called me “darling” so casually painted my face pink.

“I’m not much of an apple tart as before, right?” I asked hopefully, as if I were still a child vying for a parent’s praise. 

Aric hummed. “No, not really,” He replied, looking me up and down. “I’d still devour you, my sweet.” 

I hid a sneer and a blush. Nasty words from a nasty boy. 

“Although, I suppose you’re tougher than you look.” Aric looked at me coldly. “Best you keep it that way if you know what’s good for you.” 

I huffed, sheathing my sword and taking a seat next to Ravan, Vex and Brone in a dusty velvet armchair. Aric waved his sword to another boy jotting notes into a book, beckoning him up. As they stepped away from each other, I caught Aric glance in my direction for just a second. 

Like magic. Like a fingerglow. I couldn’t pin the emotions in his eyes. 

Malice. Steel. Dismissiveness. Longing.


	5. Love? Who Needs Love?

I bristled with contained anger, eyes aflame with fury. “What do you mean you don’t know where Tristan went?” 

Tedros ran a hand through his hair, oily, mucky and dull unlike his usual coiffed flaxen locks. Knowing him, he probably hadn’t showered in days. His uniform was rumpled, there was stubble forming on his chin and he had bags under his lifeless blue eyes. 

He sighed and shook his head, looking out the window over the crystal blue moat to the Girl’s castle. “Haven’t seen him too often nowadays. Disappears and reappears like a specter whenever he likes.” 

“It’s dangerous. We’re at war right now, and we can’t afford to have anyone unaccounted for,” I said sternly, “Especially if we don’t have the teachers to help us.” 

The blond boy groaned, rubbing at his face. “I’m working on that—“

“Tedros, please,” I said softly, almost begging him. “We’re weak and disorganized, and you know it. The teachers should be our first priority.” 

He just buried his head deeper into his hands, pulling at his hair. He was weak, vulnerable. Distracted. I knew it. That horrible, sinking feeling in your gut when you lost everything. That pain drove you insane and Tedros didn’t have his head on straight right now.

“I know,” Tedros grumbled, “And I’ll get to it. It’s just. . .” 

“It’s her, isn’t it?” I asked softly. “You still love her.”

I saw the way his eyes fell to the floor. To his hands. The hands that reached out for Agatha as she disappeared with Sophie after their battle with the School Master. 

I wondered how it felt. How it felt to have a princess beside me, who loved me and treasured me and wanted to take on the world with me. But back at school, I caught no one’s eye, and nobody caught my rose as it lay discarded between the pews, trodden upon by a princess’ glass heels. As for the Snow Ball, no princess wanted to go with me, leaving me all alone in my seat during the Circus of Talents; the only boy who was sitting instead of kneeling to their true loves, holding out their hands for their princess to take. 

“Odd number,” Professor Dovey tutted, shaking her head as she had checked the roster of students. “It seems that you’ll be alone for a while. But that’s nothing to fear! Maybe you’ll find someone later on, dear.” 

I felt like a villain. For a prince with nothing to love—nothing to fight for—had nothing at all. 

And for a while, I told myself that it was okay. That this was better. No distractions. No need to dress up and behave for anyone. But deep down inside, I secretly envied them. Hiro. Bastian. Tristan. Nicholas. Tarquin. Chaddick. Tedros. 

But even so, sometimes love can’t last forever. Sometimes your love for someone wasn’t strong enough.

I saw Tedros clench his fists shut, shaking his head vehemently. 

“I really trusted her. I loved her,” He breathed, looking back up at me with determination. I looked closer and saw pain. “But it looks like it really wasn’t my Happy Ending after all. She chose Sophie.” 

I turned away, looking out the window to the School for Boys, a massive castle the color of rust. It looked impenetrable. But that could change in a second. You never knew what could happen in a fairy tale. 

You never know what could happen to your happy ending. 

“Sometimes life doesn’t go your way. Especially in fairy tales. And when fate doesn’t go your way, you might not get your happy endings,” I whispered, just loud enough that we could hear between us, boring into his sky blue eyes. “Something always goes wrong.” 

It was quiet in the tower. Quiet with pensive thoughts swirling around like a haze in the air, slowly choking us. 

“Is that how you felt in school?” Tedros said, “That because you didn’t have anyone, you wouldn’t get your happy ending?”

“Nonsense. I don’t need anyone for a happy ending,” I rasped. 

“That’s what Nevers say, Denzel.” The look in Tedros’ eyes were gentle. Sad. I had to force myself to look away. "And I know you're not a Never." 

“I don’t need anyone,” I hissed back at him, whacking the edge of the stone table with my hand. The Storian lurched, lunging for my hand before it jerked the end of its chain, wriggling weakly. 

I didn’t need a princess for a fairy tale ending. That’s right. Just like it was before. I’ll be happy by myself. No lying, scheming friends to worry about. No girls to get fussy over. 

Tedros cleared his throat with a short ‘of course’ and heard the sound of a drawer opening. “Right. Anyhow, you’re close with that Aric boy, right?” 

Tedros pulled out a long, flowing piece of paper. I looked closer to see a map of the entire school; both the Girl’s and Boy’s castles with a tall spire dividing them, jutting out from the moat. The very tower we were standing in. Tedros took out a pen and started scribbling on the map, circling the windows, entryways, catwalks . . . all the entrances where Girls could breach the tower and our castle. By the time he was finished, the map bled with red ink over our redder castle. 

“If you don’t mind, could you take this to him?” He asked, rolling up the parchment. “Ask him to double check the guards at these marks and the shield? Been getting reports of Girls wandering about.” 

“Sure. I’m his roommate.” I took the map, tucking it into my belt. My eyebrows furrowed together. “But I’m not close with him.” 

Tedros cocked his head, confused. “Strange. I thought Aric told me he was fond of you. Is that why you never get punished by him?”

“I just got lucky,” I said, walking over to the massive window on the Boy’s side of the tower leading down to the catwalk. “I bet he’s just fooling around. You know how he is.”

“He even asked me if he could fight alongside you,” Tedros said quietly. “Wanted to get my permission first.” 

“So what? It’s not like he has a crush on me.” I was already halfway out the window, hands buried in the massive blonde braid descending from the tower. 

“You shouldn’t believe everything he says, Tedros,” I muttered. I heaved myself out the window and focused on lowering myself down the tangled braid. Aric? I didn’t need to concern myself with him. After he got what he wanted in this school he would go back to whatever hole he crawled up from and everything would be back to normal. 

I couldn’t focus on a handsome boy now. Not when we had a war to prepare for. Not when restoring Good and Evil was our first priority. 

They were just nasty words from a nasty boy.


	6. Thuggery

I shoveled another spoonful of bacon and eggs into my mouth, silently listening to the boys’ animated conversations at the breakfast table. Aside from the group of top princes who clicked together last year, we added the more sensible villains to our motley crew. Now that the divide between Good and Evil didn’t exist anymore the boys all blended in together in classes; rooming together, eating together. We were just boys, with most of the same boy problems and the same boy thoughts. A lot of those boy thoughts include stupid stuff. Like who would be willing to eat honey off the ground for a silver coin or who could hold in their burp the longest (it was Brone).

“. . . You’re asking me where Pollux is at? I bet that brown-noser is living it up at the School for Girls,“ Ravan grumped, oily hair hanging down to his shoulders as he scooped watery clam chowder from a rusty pail.

Red-haired Chaddick snorted. “Was he even male at all—“ 

Chaddick stopped short as he peered over my shoulder, fear flashing in his eyes. 

The entire table died down as Aric approached our table, swaggering like a stallion, eyes drilling into my back. All the boys eyed me, knowing that my torture-free streak was ending. I ignored them, nearly bending my fork in half, hoping that Aric was just passing by. . . 

But I heard his footsteps freeze behind me, a shadow cast over my plate and spilling over the table, silencing the boys around us. I felt the metal fork snap under my grip and I slowly turned around to face Aric. 

“G’morning,” I greeted, gritting the halves of the utensil in my palm to try to keep my hand from shaking.

Aric grinned. “Good morning, my sweet.” 

Ravan scowled beside me and muttered under his breath near my ear. “Good morning? More like good luck with that prat—”

“You woke up early today. Didn’t see you in the bath,” I said, daring to glare at him with steely silver eyes. I’m not scared, they said, try me.

Wordlessly, he cocked his head, eyes flashing with mischief, lips pulling into a sneaky grin.

“This is for you,” Aric said, handing me a folded piece of parchment. Confused, I stared at his outstretched arm, then looked up at him. Strange, I thought at the irony of it all. If I were a girl, then this would look a lot like as though he were asking me to be his date to the ball.

My smile curdled. Too bad its Aric.

“Stop giving me that look and take the note already,” he scowled, thrusting the paper into my face.

I took it from him, and Aric gave a satisfied sigh through his nose. He never gave me another glance as he turned away and walked back to his table. 

The boys on my table gaped blankly, jaws dropped like rows of nutcrackers ogling me like I had just turned into a garden gnome. In fact, all movement in the entire mess hall ceased as whispers flew around. 

“Look at that,” they said in hushed voices. “Denzel’s got a note from Aric.”

“Now that I think about it, he’s never gotten punished either, has he?” 

Long, pointy-eared Vex jabbed me with his elbow. “Hey, what did he write in that note?”

Burly Chaddick leaned over to get a better look. “A punishment slip?”

“No way.” Nicholas shook his head. “None of the other boys got notes when they got in trouble.” 

“A love confession?” Hiro said, eyebrows raised. 

“Just open it already,” Ravan snapped impatiently with his arms crossed. 

As I unfolded the note, I could feel the whole room’s stares on me. Only Aric, who sat at the Head table with his henchmen, wasn’t looking back. My eyes scanned the page, scrawled with messy, jagged handwriting. 

Dearest Denzel, I have taken notice of your skills and talents and would like to ask you to become a part of my guard. Do you accept? 

My heart leapt out of my chest. His guard? Was he recruiting me? I threw a glance over at the head table, where the rest of his meaty henchmen sat scarfing down double portions to bulk up. Then I looked back at myself; lean and proportional and nimble. Something in my gut didn’t add up. 

Why me? Why would he want me? 

I looked back up at the curious boys on my table gaping owlishly at me. I licked my dry lips and brushed my hands through my hair. 

“Aric wants me to be one of his henchmen,” I said. 

The other boys on my table waited expectantly. I stared back at them, unsure of what else to say to them. 

Tarquin spoke up, breaking the silence. “Well, do you want to become one of his henchmen?”

Instantly, calamity exploded from the table of boys as opinions ricocheted off of each other like the Royal Rot and Camelot Courier having a literary stand off. 

“That’s suicide. Becoming one of his henchmen will raise his expectations!” Bastian exclaimed, “Not to mention, you’ll have to obey his every command like a dog!” 

“But what happens if he declines?” Chaddick retorted, “That’ll just make him resentful and poor Denzel here would probably get double punishment for turning him down.” 

“You’ll get protection from the other boys. No one would mess with one of Aric’s men,” said Nicholas. 

Vex shook his head, ears wagging back and forth. “No use for that. Denzel’s already popular with all the boys in this school. He’s like our resident princess. Already close to the thug too. Even got on Aric’s good side; this proves it.”

I choked on a piece of bacon. “Resident princess? Wha—“

“Don’t ask.” The boys all said in unison. I didn’t. 

“So there you have it, Denzel,” Ravan said, “Would you rather follow that thug around like a dog, or risk being on Aric’s bad side?”

I swallowed the knot in my throat. 

So it’s a matter of pride or fear. 

Of course, I was a prince. A prince of Good. Valiant. Chivalrous. Honorable. No villain could scare me. No Evil could sway me. 

But this wasn’t Good and Evil anymore. No. Now we were just boys. 

I remembered being there the day Aric cracked Lesso’s shield and was welcomed into the Boys’ school with his henchmen. That mischievous, scheming glimmer in his eyes that sent fear throughout the entire student body. The chief torturer of the school. I never knew what he did to his victims. None of the boys had wanted to share that experience. 

Fear. 

Ever since he came, the entire castle reeked of it. 

I hung my head and sighed, dread pooling in my stomach. “I hope I’ll still get to eat at meals with you guys.”

Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad.


	7. Monster's Underbelly

I yawned awake, stretching my stiff, aching muscles. My eyes fluttering open to see the sky fade from a deep indigo to a muted orange, blush pink mingling with the yellow hues beneath the clouds. The sun seemed to descend from the clouds from the top of the sky down into the sea of dark blue beneath like an angel. 

Then I felt the blood rushing to my head, arms bound above my head. Or beneath me? And the breeze coming through the windows lit goosebumps over my wet skin. My mind went into overdrive, barraging me with questions all at once. 

Where was I? Why am I here? Why am I tied upside down? Why was I soaking wet? 

I looked down (up?) and to my horror, I was tied by my ankles to the chandelier in the dining hall, drenched in ice-cold water while a basket of hungry spiricks hissed beneath my head. 

Cut the rope with a spell and I would fall headfirst into a circle of needle-spiked spiricks. Wait here until the other boys come in and face whatever welcoming ritual Aric and his henchmen had planned for me. 

Which probably involved me falling headfirst into a basket of spiricks. 

Embarrassment flooded through me, lighting up my finger. How naive I had been to have my guard down. 

Look at you, a voice in my mind said. You’re weak. I felt tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. You can’t even defend yourself properly.

I blasted a spell through my wrist binds and let my arms swing freely over the serpentine creatures, who jumped and circled the bottom of the basket cautiously, acid-green eyes glowering up at me. My heart leapt into my throat at the drop of my arms, weighing my body down. I forced myself upward and started to climb up the rope that connected my body to the chandelier, but the frigid water chilling my skin made my hands unsteady and red.

How did they even get me wet without me waking up? I seethed as a gust of wind blew over me. I let go of the rope, feeling the corse fibers scratch at my raw palms. 

At least I’ll get a little more sleep before getting a whipping from Aric. I let my eyes slip shut, hoping for sleep to embrace me soon. 

“Holy hell,” A deep voice snarled, jolting me from my half-slumber. 

My eyes snapped open and I saw Aric standing across the room at the dining hall doors, eyes narrowed in suspicion. I instantly paled and averted my gaze to my feet. I heard his heavy footsteps clack against the floors and he shoved the basket of spiricks to the side. 

Then I saw him raise his fingerglow at me. 

“Aric, wait!“ I shrieked. 

Aric shot a purple spell at my ankles and suddenly, I found myself free-falling to the floors below with a very high chance of cracking my head open upon impact. I felt ready to throw up. That sick feeling you get when you feel yourself dropping. 

But the pain never came. 

I landed in his arms with a grunt, and I felt Aric stagger before righting himself again. I peeked an eye open and looked up into lethal violet eyes glaring down. Aric peered at with disapproval in his eyes. 

I turned my head away and looked anywhere but at him, feeling embarrassed of my self-preservation skills. If I was taken advantage of this easily, how well would I fare in the Endless Woods? 

I coughed awkwardly. “I’m sorry. I let my guard down. It won’t happen ag—“

“I’m going to have to give those moronic boys a good whipping later,” Aric grunted, ignoring me. He gritted his teeth and shifted his grip on me. He still hadn’t let go of me yet. 

“Aric—“ 

“Told them not to lay a single finger on you and they go out and do this,” Aric snapped as he absent-mindedly started walking out of the dining hall. 

“I understand that they revel in any chance to punish an Ever, but I they have the brain capacity of a goldfish. And even I was a bit of late bloomer.” Aric added with a hushed mutter, more to himself than to me, “Due to the fact that I was raised in a cave until I was six, of course.” 

“Um, Aric,” I said, hesitant that he would snap at me for interrupting him. 

“What is it?” He glanced down at me out of the corner of his eye. 

“Why did you do that?” I asked, rubbing at the rope burns on my wrists. “Save me, I mean.” 

I shivered as we passed by a window, a gust of wind battering my soaked body. I pressed closer to Aric’s chest, hulking and warm. Was he always this warm? I always thought that he would be frigid, given how cold-blooded he was. 

Aric hummed nonchalantly, as if still forgetting that he was carrying me. Carrying me as though I were a princess, no less. “No need for such a meaningless and conspicuous initiation ritual like we always do while we’re here in this school.” His eyes slashed into me. “Never was fond of hazing.”

“Oh,” was all I could answer. As we ascended the stairwell, I wrapped my arms tighter around Aric’s neck as I swayed back and fourth. A shiver ran up my spine again, making my entire body shudder. 

“Cold?” He teased, a sneer painted across his face. I silently nodded, again casting my eyes downward. 

“If you don’t mind me asking,” I said, “Is there a particular reason why you’re chatty today?” 

As we walked down the hallway to our dorm, a couple of curious heads stuck out of their doors to see who the early bird was. Aric glared back and bared jagged teeth at them at them until they retreated back into their dorms. 

“Just a tad annoyed at the fact that my boys disobeyed a direct order—” He snarled, eyes still glued to the heads of sleepy boys peeping at them from their doorways. 

Finally, he stood in front of the door to our shared room, standing me properly on the floor. Before he left for his morning duties, he leaned in close to my ear. I locked eyes with him, staring into deep, clear violet. 

Strange. They’re softer. Kinder. Almost as if he were a. . . 

Aric spoke. I flushed at his next words and scolded myself for doing so.

“—And because I’m quite sure that I have a soft spot for you.”


	8. No One Special

“What. Was. That.” Ravan spat, eyes narrowed at me, scowling. Actually, I was surrounded by those same scowls at the table I sat at. 

I let out a deep sigh, tapping my spoon on the rim of my rusty pail. “I’ve said this a million times. I don’t know what that was—“

“—Was that even Aric?” Oliver snorted, throwing a dirty look at the head table. “He saved you and was carrying you like you were a princess! Like you were his princess!” 

“Well whatever it was that got Aric so weird all of a sudden had to be something!” Vex burst out. “A curse, a spell, a hex, a dare—” 

Indeed, by breakfast time, all the boys on our floor had found out about the little debacle. News of the incident spread like a wildfire during morning prep before breakfast and the other boys nagged at me about the situation. Now, all I could do was sit and listen to everyone else debate about it. 

The boys at my table erupted into a series of frenzied whispers. All but one joined in: Chaddick, who stayed silent, deep in thought. 

“Hey, you know, this might be weird but. . . “ Chaddick spooned soup into his mouth, taking another second to think. “No, its too crazy—“

“What? What is it, Chaddick?” Vex urged, prodding him with his spoon. 

Chaddick shook his head. “What if it was love?” 

Silence fell over the entire table and my heartbeat nearly stopped in shock. One by one, eyes slowly fell onto me. 

“Denzel,” Hiro whispered, almond eyes blown wide. “Does Aric like you?” 

I forced down a dry knot in my throat. “I—“ I stammered, “I’ve never considered that,” I choked out. 

Was that really all out of love? The look in his eyes weren’t sharp and menacing when he was with me, almost as if he—

“Impossible.” Ravan hissed, eyes lowered. “Aric is definitely Evil. And villains don’t love. Can’t love. It’s just not in them. If they love anyone, it would be for all the wrong reasons. And they especially don’t fall in love with Evers.” 

Chaddick leaned back in his seat. “First time for everything,” he said, ignoring the other’s skeptical looks. “I mean, Sophie and Agatha proved that they could have a happy ending together—why can’t Aric and Denzel have one?”

“You’re forgetting something very important there, Chaddick,” Ravan snarled, “The princess and the witch’s fairy tale ending didn’t last.” 

“But those two had their ending as friends; these two are lovers. It was still possible. The End was written—“

I blanched. “—Lovers?“ I said to nobody. 

“All villains were taught as children not to love by our parents, so believe me when I say that villains don’t love,” Ravan said, pain flashing through his eyes. 

My ears perked up and I remembered what Aric told me earlier that morning. “Well, he told me that he was raised in a cave until he was six. I think his parents abandoned him after that.” 

“See, maybe he just had bad parents,” Chaddick said a-matter-of-factly, crossing his arms. “Bad Evil parents.” 

Ravan huffed, raising his hands in surrender. “Maybe so, but believe me when I say that if Aric falls in love with Denzel, things won’t end well.” 

I waved my hand. “Who’s to say that he does love me? Why’s this even a possibility now?”

Vex shook his head solemnly. “Bound to be some bloodshed when a villain and a prince love each other.”

“Why do you assume that I like him back?” I huffed in annoyance, gnawing on a stale loaf of bread. 

**

“Is this really what your henchmen do for you?” I asked, folding one of Aric’s black leather uniform shirts into a pile. Aric and I had already finished all of our assignments, so we had that night’s study period to ourselves. 

“No,” Aric replied, scratching furiously at a piece of parchment with a leaky pen. “Not the others. It’s just because you’re also my bunkmate.” 

My brow furrowed. “Are you unable to fold your own laundry? What are you going to do when you’re out in the Endless Woods?”

Aric shrugged without so much of a glance. “That cave I was raised in—it was located beyond the School Gates. After my mother abandoned me, I left it and went into the Woods,” he said nonchalantly, his purple fingerglow flickering. 

“Technically, I’ve already lived in the Woods.” 

My heart sank into my stomach. How could he be so casual about being abandoned? A gruesome thought wriggled its way into my mind. How did he even survive out there? 

“I know what you’re thinking—How did I survive all those years?” Aric said, making me jump out of my skin, and I saw him grin like he knew exactly what was going on in my mind. 

I pressed a leather uniform onto the bed and proceeded to fold it, pretending to act nonchalant. “How did you know?” 

“Lucky guess. You soft Evers all think alike,” he drawled, twirling his pen on his finger. “It was really just a matter of sticking to the trail and finding a village. Eventually, I found the Flowerground and a family took me in because they pitied a small, abandoned boy, regardless of whether or not I was Evil. Long story short, I wasn’t the best child. They feared me and sent me off. Even so, the Woods were still scary. I don’t really remember much, to be honest. The earliest memory I have of my first time out in the forest was just . . . seeing my fingerglow.”

I looked up from folding the laundry at Aric. His eyes held a strange softness to it as he tried to remember his early days as a small child. Seeing him talk about his fingerglow and his early life seemed to light up his eyes right away, making them glow even brighter in the lantern’s light.

“The first time I saw my fingerglow, it was when it was dark and I was afraid of being all alone by myself. But then I think something in me just snapped. I told myself that I was a boy. That I couldn’t trust females like my mother anymore. That boys don’t cry or whine or bend over like those passive little princesses. Boys fight and dominate. I had to be strong too,” Aric said, “And when I looked up, that was when I saw it—all that emotion lighting up my finger. And I let it lead the way through the darkness.” 

Strange indeed, Beast’s replacement was more sincere than I remembered. Before I knew it, I caught myself smiling at Aric and pinched myself in the arm, forcing myself to focus on laundry. 

“That’s certainly interesting,” I rambled, more to myself than to him. 

“Your turn,” Aric said. I looked up from a pair of black leather trousers to see Aric leaning over the armrest of his chair expectantly. 

“My turn? For what?”

Aric rolled his eyes, jabbing a finger at my chest. “Your turn to tell me your sob story. I told you mine so shouldn’t I should get one in return?” 

“I. . . I’m no one special,” I gave Aric a charming smile, hoping it would throw him off. I heard from Hester that Nevers detested smiles. Especially Ever smiles. I didn’t expect him to smile back, however. 

“You?” Aric exclaimed, “‘No one special’?” He howled with laughter, beating the table with his fist. Beside him, I sat stiffly on the bed, wondering if I should laugh along with him. 

Suddenly, the laughter ceased when Aric turned to me, no longer smiling at all. 

“Dear, you’re a prince attending the prestigious School for Good. If anyone here isn’t special, it’s me,” he hissed, glowering into my eyes. 

I gave Aric another ingratiating smile. “Did. . . you want to go here?”

Aric snorted, pawing at his tousled hair. “Might’ve made my job easier.” 

I decided not to press into what that meant. 

“Enlighten me as to why you are ‘no one special,’ Denzel.” Aric flopped onto my bottom bunk bed unceremoniously, cradling his head in his hands like a child waiting for a bedtime story. 

No getting out of bonding time, eh? 

“Mum was one of the twelve dancing princesses. She taught me how to dance too. Taught me everything she knew,” I said, falling into starry reminiscence. “Waltz, foxtrot, paso doble, tango, tap dance, you name it.” 

My eyes clouded over. “Then I grew up. Told me she couldn’t spend any more time with me. That I had to grow up on my own now.” 

“And then?” Aric drawled. 

I paused, gripping the pillow in my lap with sweaty hands. “You don’t think dancing is. . . feminine?”

“Princes do it too,” Aric flitted, “Dancing is a noble sport that requires grace, class, and discipline. I admire that.” 

Aric looks at me again, glaring harder. “And then?”

I exhaled shakily. “And then I tried to make friends. They all didn’t like me ‘cause they thought dancing was girly. Teased me and pushed me down and forced me into their sister’s dresses,” I said, “Except for one boy. He didn’t care about all that. He was my first friend. I told him all my secrets, and my deepest feelings.” 

Aric chuckled through his nose. “And?” 

My face colored in shame. I always hated unburying that part of my childhood. That place that always made me feel shameful and scared and weak. Too weak to stand up to the people who told me that I couldn't do this--that I couldn't do that. Too weak to fight for what I wanted. Too weak to do what I wanted to do. 

“And it was a lie,” I said quietly.

I watch as Aric runs his tongue over his lips, a coy smile on his face. 

“Don’t relish in my misery,” I reprimanded weakly as his smile grew. “Anyway, I hated that boy for the rest of my life. Never had any other close friends in my life.” 

Aric cocks an eyebrow and answered my rambling with an amused ‘really?’ 

I nodded weakly. “I’ve actually never told anyone this before,” I mumbled, picking at a loose thread at the lapel of my shirt. 

“Not even your friends here?” He asked, returning to his original spot at his desk. 

“They’re good friends. But not ones I would trust with these kinds of secrets,” I replied. “But I miss having a friend I could tell everything to. ” 

Aric snorted, leaning his head over the side of his chair. “You’re telling me right now. What makes you think you can trust me? You could’ve actually just made up a fake story.” 

I still for a moment. “I don’t actually know,” I shrug, taking the time to fold another shirt into a neat rectangle. I look up at Aric again, staring into his eyes. “Maybe it’s because we’re both a little lonely.” 

Aric stiffens, shoulders visibly tensing. I almost laughed at how taken back he looked. He pursed his lips, gripping the pen in his hands tightly between his fingers, eyes darting back to the letter he was writing. They land back on me, a bright violet the shade of orchids. 

“I know what it’s like to have a friend who understands,” Aric whispered, “A friend you love who makes you feel like you’re not Evil at all. And when they leave, it’s not the same without them. You’re not the same without them.” 

I could see the pain in his eyes. The pain of having no one left for you. But the moment only lasts a second, and he’s turned away, returning to his pile of letters. 

My faint smile pulls itself into a thin line again and I start on folding the rest of his shirts. Maybe I was feeling just a little sad. I thought I had someone to talk to. Maybe I really was lonely. 

“I think you’re special,” I hear Aric mutter. 

My eyes widened, heartbeat thrumming in my ears. Aric? Giving me a compliment? 

Aric? Giving compliments? 

Aric? Giving? 

“You do?” I asked back. 

Aric hums. “I do.” 

“And why are you telling me this?” I ask from my spot on the bed, doing my best to keep myself cool, composed. 

Aric didn’t reply. 

I was starting to get annoyed by him leaving me hanging. He had a bit of a habit of doing that. I looked up, “Hey, mate, I asked you a ques—“

I jumped back at Aric’s close proximity. He was sitting right next to me, leaning down over my shoulder, looking at me with that same look that he gave me that one morning outside our room. It was when his sharp violet eyes went soft and intimate and made me feel all warm like goo. I was frozen stiff in my place on the bed, clutching the leather shirt in my hands. I felt as though I were hit with a stun spell. Aric only smirked at my loss for words and ran a hand through his spiky, jet-black hair. 

“I already told you, haven’t I?” He tilted his head to the side and winked like the devil. “I have a soft spot for you.” 

The eloquence and articulation of his speech, the way he held himself with pride and dignity. . . The loneliness I saw in his eyes and the weakness in his vulnerable side—all seemed more attractive the longer I knew him. Words were jumbled up in my throat as I searched for something to fire back. 

He sauntered back to his desk with a victorious smirk on his face at my reaction. “Oh, and you might want to be prepared tomorrow. Master Tedros said that he heard his princess’s wish for him. So we’re going on our first expedition to visit Gavaldon since the barrier between the village and the Woods is down.” 

Aric turned to me expectantly with an eyebrow raised. “You’ll get a good night’s rest, I hope?” 

There was only dead silence from me. Aric grinned. “Sleep tight, dear.” 

I only flushed red in response.


	9. Obedience

The next morning, I was the first boy to the empty breakfast table, fuming and blushing like a ripe tomato, eyes lowered to the floor. I slammed my rusty pail down onto the table and plopped down in my chair while muttering incoherently, rubbing at my cheeks while thinking about last night and this morning. I took in the sight of my breakfast before me—a large stack of steaming, golden pancakes dripping with syrup—and I wiped at the drool dripping from the corner of my lips. I tried to blink away the heavy bags under my eyes and the fatigue clutching my body, trying to drag me back to sleep. 

“Five more minutes—just five more minutes. No one else is even up yet, it’s the day off,” I begged that morning, as Aric shook me from my slumber. I knew that he was the only boy awake at this unholy hour. He always slept and rose early to get training time in. 

After a few minutes, he got fed up with me and carried me to the cold, deserted washrooms and dunked me into the freezing bathtub. Even so, I was still groggy and was then soaked in my pajamas. That was, until Aric decided to start disrobing also and join me in the bath. Then I remembered my eyes open wide as I practically jumped out of the bathtub into the next one, smacking my head against the faucet. 

I rubbed the swollen bump on my head while drunkenly guiding a forkful of pancakes to my mouth. The dull pain was the only proof I had that convinced me that that morning really happened. As the other boys sat down, I opted not to tell them about it. The last thing I wanted was more obnoxious chatter in my ears, ringing through my head. 

But they took notice anyways. Oliver prodded me with the back of his fork. “What’s with you today?”

I glared at my breakfast in annoyance. “I got a special wake-up call from my lovely bunkmate at three in the morning.”

Ravan grumbled. “That kid is Evil. Truly Evil.” 

“And not in a Good way.” 

“Quite the thug. What did he do? Soak you in water again like his henchmen did?”

“Yes, actually,” I fumed at how uncanny it was. 

“Ah, that Aric—torturous to even his True Love.” 

I chose to ignore that last remark. The chatter at my table immediately died down, however, as curious glances were thrown behind me over my shoulder. I groaned, already knowing who it was. A firm hand gripped my shoulder and I felt Aric’s warm breath engulf my ear. 

“Tired, my dear?” He smirked. I could practically hear the mischief in his voice as his spiky hair brushed my cheek. 

“No thanks to you,” I snapped, feeling my fatigue take its toll on me. 

“That’s no way to speak to your roommate, is it?” Aric warbled, his words rolling sweetly off his tongue like honey. “Come on now, I know this is your day off—not that we’ve been doing much—but we have to get fitted for our cloaks and leave for that Reader village where those girls are. Orders from Master Tedros himself.” 

And as much as his teasing grated on my nerves. . . As unpredictable was he was. . . I knew that this was what I signed up for. And I knew he was right. 

I shoveled the last of my breakfast into my mouth and waved goodbye to my mates, following after Aric like the dog I had agreed to be.


	10. Into the Woods

To say that I felt uncomfortable was an understatement. And it was uncomfortable because I couldn’t tell if it was a good uncomfortable or a bad uncomfortable. Whatever that meant. 

In all honesty, it was a brilliant idea to have the cloak fitting right before the expedition. This kept the boys from losing them or destroying them or flinging food in the air with them. 

But there was one small problem. 

There were a lot of boys. 

All the boys Tedros had rounded up were crammed in the foyer, getting fitted by fives as magic sewing needles tailored the blood-red cloaks nearby to their specifications. As the chief of discipline in this school, it was also Aric’s job to watch over each student alongside Tedros as they were setting up and being equipped in the armory. 

Strange, since I can only feel his eyes watching me, I thought as tape measures were fitted across my body. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aric, clad in crimson and black watching as I got my measurements done, eyes roving over me like a predator the entire time. Even if he was across the foyer, I shifted uncomfortably, trying to bite back the red rushing to my cheeks. 

He was watching me. And I tried not to feel giddy at the thought, trying to keep myself from shaking in nervousness.

I couldn’t have been happier when the tape measures coiled back from around my shoulders, jostling me forward to usher the next boy in line up front. 

A shiver tickled my spine as I saw Aric trailing towards me, his tongue tracing the edge of his bottom teeth as he approached. 

“How was it, my dear?” Aric asked, making me fidget with the hem of my uniform shirt. I averted my eyes away from his heavy gaze and stared at the burnt, ashen walls instead. What a nice texture and just the right color to suit the castle—

A hand wrenched my chin up and I stared directly into Aric’s eyes. He wasn’t smiling anymore. “I think I asked you a question, Denzel,” Aric growled, venom oozing from his words, “And I expect you to answer me when I ask you something.” 

Says you, I thought. I sighed and pressed my hand against Aric’s shoulder. “It was great, Aric.”

His glare softened. “That’s better. Go retrieve your cloak,” he demanded as he turned to walk away. 

The enchanted needles dumped the neatly stitched cloak over my head and started on the next one, squeaking in distress at the backlog they had. I tugged the hood over my shoulders and admired the red hue draped over my arms like a well of blood. 

This was it. I guess I’m really doing this. 

My heart thundered beneath my veins, pulsing at an ominous beat. 

Even if I fight on Tedros’ side. . . I’ll still protect my friends. That’s what I promised them. 

I hugged the silky fabric closer. Whatever it takes to go back to the way things were. 

I ran out the door to join the rest of the group grabbing their weapons from the armory. After equipping ourselves bows with fire-tipped arrows, we all filed into the clearing on the outskirts of the forest. 

“Our objective is to find the shielded reader village. Split up into pairs and spread out!” Tedros’ voice boomed over the small expanse of land in front of the castle where all the boys gathered near the shore of the school. A few feet away, the crogs mocked us from under the rusty waters, leering at the edge of the moat with their beady eyes. 

Tedoros scanned us all for our cloaks and raised his lit finger. “If any of the squads find the village, send a flare up and the rest of the groups will mobilize. We’ll strategize from there. Clear?” 

“Yes!” The boys shouted, raising their weapons in the air. 

Tedros turned to Aric. “Any last words?” 

Aric calmly surveyed us, eyes slashing through the crowd. “I can expect you all to be able to fend for yourself in the Woods, right?” 

“Yes!” The group yelled back. 

“We’ll win this war, right?” Aric sneered. 

“Yes!” The boys screamed again. 

Aric howled. “YOU ARE ALL BOYS, RIGHT?”

“Yes!” They rumbled.

Aric bared his teeth in a snarl. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” 

“YES!” The boys roared like lions, clashing their bows and arrows against their shields rambunctiously. 

That seemed to please Aric enough to bring a smirk to his face. “Excellent. Now get going! The hunt starts now!” 

The boys immediately dispersed like flies, dragging one another into pairs and groups. I looked around the clearing for someone to pair up with. The other boys were already chummy with each other, sharpening each others’ swords and laughing over jokes. I felt a pang of loneliness in my chest. None of my other friends were here, and I had no one else to partner with. 

I felt a tingle down my spine and turned to see Aric’s eyes pinned to me through the crowd. At the same time, one of Aric’s henchmen spotted me through the crowd. 

“Oi! Denzel! C’mere!” He shouted, waving me over to the group with a meaty hand. I gave Aric one last look and jogged up to the band of teenagers, met with ruffles to my hair and smiles. 

“We can all team up together!” A second muscular boy suggested. The boys cheered, raising their swords and shields in the air. 

“Ey, Denzel, hide behind Beck ‘fore Aric comes o’er,” The third henchman said, shoving me behind another squat-looking boy who looked stouter with his massive shield. “He’s gonna steal ya away again.” 

“That’s right,” Beck nodded, raising the shield to my head. “He’s always givin’ ‘ya squirrelly looks.” 

“Who is giving who looks?” A voice boomed behind them. 

The boys froze, looking behind them to see Aric glaring down at them menacingly. 

Aric pulled me close to him. “Denzel will be with me. I still need to assess how well he does in actual combat.” 

“But wouldn’t it be bettah if ya assessed how well he worked with us? His team?” Henchman #3 griped. The rest of them grumbled in agreement. 

He whipped around to his henchmen. “Did I ask for your opinion?” Aric said, laced with venom. 

Their gazes wavered with hesitation. They all simultaneously lowered their heads. “No.” 

“That’s what I thought.” Aric grabbed me by the arm and yanked me towards the entrance of the Woods. I snuck a peek behind me and saw the boys looking back with apologetic looks on their faces. 

I turned back to Aric. “What was that?” 

Without so much of a glance, Aric muttered, “I don’t like sharing.” 

We approached the edge of the Woods with caution. It hadn’t changed since orientation in my first year of school, and I eyed it warily. It was so much different from the glimmering Blue Forest, whose welcoming cool hues gave students a harmless and beautiful mimicry of the real thing. On the other hand, the shadows from inside the Endless Woods seemed to suck up all the light that entered it, making the forest floor pitch black. Critters and creatures wailed and rattled from inside, following the boys’ movements with their glowing eyes. 

Aric, on the other hand, seemed totally unfazed. Even the acid-green eyes hissing at him through the trees shirked away when he glowered back through the brush. 

“Ready?” He asked, checking that his dagger was in its holster. 

“Y—yes?” I stammered back. 

“That was a trick question. Let’s go,” He said, forging on into the Forest. I jogged to keep up with his pace. 

Immediately, my surroundings were plunged into pitch black darkness as the shadows seeming to swallow us up. I tried not to trip over the overgrown roots and rocks jutting out from the dirt while following behind the Aric, with only the fire from our arrows to guide us. I tried not to take notice of the glowing red and yellow eyes in the dark, tracing our movements. 

With a high-pitched shriek, it skittered out from underneath the lightless canopy, bashing into branches like a madman. 

Aric shot it down with an arrow. 

“Giant beetle,” he spat, watching it writhe in the fire. It was the size of my foot. 

Aric wrinkled his nose. “Nasty things.” 

As I watched the fire crackle, the shadows around it began to move. The darkness around it undulated, faster and faster. Like a pit of snakes. Aric saw it too. 

He kept me behind him and aimed an arrow at the rock next to where the beetle fell, lodging it into the dirt. The fire illuminated the shadows around it. . . and the multitude of twisting, thorny vines snaking around the forest floor trying to avoid the fire, pulsing towards us. Aric stomped on a stray vine zigzagging towards him and it shrieked under his foot. Then it exploded out from under him, coiling around his leg, thorns digging into Aric’s boot like a boa constrictor. 

Quickly, I shot my fingerglow at it. The vine screeched at the silver sparks, receding into the undergrowth. 

“Let’s keep moving,” Aric urged, shooting sparks into the dirt around his feet. 

As I nodded, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prick up, feeling my senses overload. Something was here. Close. 

My heart went into overdrive. Behind us. 

I turned around, brandishing an arrow to the darkness. 

A massive purple vine as thick as my leg with spikes the size of my fingers was reared over our heads behind us, pointing its sharp end between Aric and I as if debating who to kill first. Aric was still a couple of steps ahead, oblivious to the vine’s silent deliberation. After a second, it’s tip stilled and remained pointed at Aric, as if it knew that he was the bigger threat, slithering in the air towards him as if I didn’t even exist on its radar. 

“Aric!” I called out. I aimed my finger right at its end and shot a stun spell at it. It flinched and made a U-turn back, pointed in my face. 

The vine picked me up instead, coiling tight around my waist in a vice-like grip. In the air, I locked eyes with Aric, taking in his horrified expression before it turns into a blur as the vine slams me face-first into the dirt. I shut my eyes at the impact, trying to focus on making my finger glow, but just as I’m able to muster enough emotion, the vine whipped me around to throw me to into a tree, scratching my face against bark and leaves. It tossed me around like a ragdoll while I writhed in its grip, blindly shooting spells at the vine binding my waist. 

Aric’s eyes try to follow the it blindly in the dark as it violently thrashed around. With each spark of my finger, it lit up an outline of a thorn or a leaf undulating with the vine before extinguishing in a flash. Aric unsheathes his dagger into his hand with the flick of his wrist, calmly taking aim at the vine before charging it with a snarl, cutting down whatever he could. It flipped and lurched with every cut, jab and slash, bucking me around like a rodeo bronco until Aric severed it completely. At last, it let out a gurgle and fell to the ground, taking me with it. 

I look up at him, or well, I was trying to. 

Trying to distinguish between the three Arics I saw. 

Trying to steady the ringing in my head. 

Trying not to throw up on his boots. 

He crouches down and lugs me into his lap. “You okay?” 

I’m shaking my head before I process the question, and my head just felt like it split down the middle like an egg. The adrenaline high was starting to come down and all the aches and pains in my body started to come to attention. I closed my eyes and sucked in a shuddering breath. 

Aric just nodded and strokes my hair, waiting for the sickness to subside. 

I focused on my breathing, letting it even out while relaxing my body. Soon, nearly all the nausea was gone, with just the pain that lingered on my flesh and bones remaining. 

Aric leaned in close. “Are you okay now?”

His voice was calm. Soothing. But there was a twinge of urgency in his voice. 

“What’s wrong?” 

He whispered into my ear. “Something’s watching us.” 

I slowly lolled my head to the side, and I saw it too. Red eyes glowing from the underbrush, watching intently. Hungrily. 

“We have to keep moving.” Aric swept me up to my feet, an arm crammed under my shoulder. “Lean on me. Until you can stand on your own.” 

Aric pulled me towards him and kept pressing forward deeper into the Woods, over yawning boulders and under creaky branches. He dragged me alongside him until there was a break in the tree canopy, letting in a glimmer of sunlight into the dark Woods like a ray of hope. Aric held me under the light, holding my cheeks in his calloused hands and examining my face carefully. 

After a moment, he exhaled through his nose and released me. “The reader village should be close by. Just stay close to me and you should be—“ 

Aric froze. 

Glowing violet eyes narrowed in suspicion and he slowly started backing away from the light, whipping out his rusted dagger. “Get behind me,” he whispered and I obeyed him immediately, drawing an arrow into my bow. 

“Is it that thing from before?” I asked, never taking my eyes away from the glow. 

“This is why I hate going out into this part of the Woods near this wretched school,” he muttered disdainfully, “Everything wants to kill you.” 

I began to see the outline of a hulking warthog approaching us through the bushes. We took one look at its dark red eyes and knew that this was no ordinary boar. Its head was larger than both mine and Aric’s combined and the tip of its ears reached my collarbone. Its breaths came out in short, low snorts, rumbling through its chest. Through its tangled, coarse fur, I could see scars marring its thick, muddy hide. It looked like something out of a storybook, like a cursed demon roaming the forest for its next victims. 

And its next meal would be us. 

It glanced at us once before the warthog charged at full speed, gigantic curved tusks lowered. To my utter horror, Aric shoved his dagger at me, sprinting towards it. 

I tucked his blade into my pocket and watched as Aric and the boar slammed into each other. Before the warthog could ram him, Aric grabbed it by the tusks, throwing his entire weight into pushing it backwards. I drew my bow again, but the two were struggling against each other too much for me to get a shot in. I take aim anyways, directing the flame at its heart and let the arrow go. 

Its thick hide deflected the arrow easily, extinguishing the fire upon contact. The warthog squealed, rearing up as Aric frantically pulled it back down. 

I heard my heart thumping in my ears, shaking my nerves. My hands shook as I frantically looked around us, wracking my brain for a solution until a voice pulled me from my thoughts. 

“Just run!” I heard Aric roar, heels digging into the dirt, both kicking up dust while his face was mere centimeters away from the snorting warthog’s. Aric turned over his shoulder to look at me. “Run and save yourself!” He growled, “Hurry! Find the others!” 

I could tell that he was getting tired and there was no way he could hold off the warthog much longer. Either I could manage to save both of us, save myself, or I ran out of time and got both of us killed. 

My Ever soul told me that I had to stay, that I had to fight—

But Aric’s eyes told me that I had to live. 

I choked back a frightened sob, turned, and ran back into the darkness.


	11. A Boy Worth Fighting For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT NOTE: This chapter is in Aric's point of view!

The warthog had experience fighting, I could tell. Enchanted, cursed, whatever it was, it was strong. Jeez, where did this mess come from? As I kept a firm grip on its massive tusks, trying to gore me to death, all I could think about was balancing myself and pushing the boar backwards, trying to keep it from killing us both until Denzel thought of something. 

But deep inside me, gnawing at me in the back of my mind, I knew there was no way out of this. 

Did I consider running away? Certainly. But I didn’t want to think about how fast this thing ran. A sword wouldn’t have any effect on its skin, let alone arrows and daggers. We had no idea where the other teams were. I couldn’t focus on getting my finger to light up properly, and we were moving too much for Denzel to get a clean shot in, even at that distance. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, I had my limits. 

No more plans. No more options. 

In that moment, I made a decision. I turned to Denzel behind me, who was scouring our surroundings for a solution, something, anything. 

“Just run!” I roared. He turned to me, his eyes wide in such disbelief that I had given up. He opened his mouth to argue but I shut him up. 

“Run and save yourself!” I shouted, feeling the boar bucking under my grip. “Hurry! Find the others!” 

I saw it in his eyes, when we admitted defeat. He looked so devastated to have to leave me here. It was probably because that meant he had to venture through the Woods alone. But he also knew that it was the only option left. 

I didn’t blink twice at giving myself up. I would do it for him if it meant that he was safe. Somehow, I figured that this would be my ending anyways. It cemented the fact why I was a Never; why I was a villain. 

Since my birth, I had no one who cared about me. Even my own mother abandoned me. I had no one who would tell my story. No one who would stay by my side and fight. And that’s why I’ll die here alone. 

I wanted to close my eyes and look away. I didn’t want to see Denzel turn around and run and leave me like everyone else who came into my life. I didn’t want to be ignored and left all alone again. 

The selfish part of me wished that he shook his head and stayed here with me. I wished, I wished, I wished. 

But it was only a wish. And life didn’t work that way. It wasn’t my fairy tale, after all. 

My hand slipped from the bucking boar’s tusk and it wrenched free of my grip. The warthog took a step backwards, head reared. As the boar charged one last time, I let my eyes fall closed, feeling my sweat stinging my eyes, hoping that I bought Denzel enough time to get far away from here. 

My body felt heavy as I slipped and fell backwards but it was strange how light my heart felt. 

Maybe I got to be the hero of his story. 

Maybe I got to be his prince.

Maybe.

You will Never find love, my son, I heard my mother’s voice say. And even so, in this last moment, I remembered her sitting beside me in that small, dank cave, cradling me and telling me stories about all the best villains in the woods. I remembered having the heart-to-heart conversations with Denzel the previous night and how understood and fulfilled I felt. 

But just a little bit of love. 

Just a little would’ve made me so happy.


	12. Woodsman

I summoned all the emotion I could: anger, sadness, determination, love. Everything that I was feeling at once. I could feel it race down into my hand, igniting my finger a blinding silver and I took aim at the boar, square in the side. A silver spell slammed into the boar, just as its tusks were about to impale Aric. 

The warthog froze in its place, the result of a petrification spell. 

I collapsed onto the high boulder I was perched on in relief, watching the boar tip over onto its side with a dull clunk. Next to it, Aric was on the ground, barely moving. 

“Aric!” I shouted. No response. 

I called to him again. “Aric?” 

I clambered off of the boulder and crouched beside the teenager, shaking his shoulders. Slowly, his purple eyes fluttered open, dazed and glassy, confused about whether he was alive or dead. They focused blearily on me. 

“Aric, you’re okay!” I choked out in relief. “You’re okay!” 

He reached up to my face, grabbing the collar of my hood. “Why did you come back?” 

“I never left,” I said, “How could I leave you when you were ready to die for me?”

Upon hearing that, the fire returned to his eyes, glittering like amethyst gems. “My prince,” Aric mumbled. He shoved his face into his shoulder. “My prince,” he repeated to himself like a mantra. 

**

“Must we really kill Sophie? She was nice to me,” I said, keeping close behind Aric, skittering over bushes and undergrowth. Aric plowed through the dense forestry with ease, navigating the rugged paths like a veteran. 

Probably because once upon a time, he was one. 

Night had fallen over the Woods without any luck from any of the teams, painting the brush pitch black and the canopy lit up with glowing eyes following our every move. We ran into a couple of other groups who took to forming larger search teams after being spooked as the sun set further and further down the horizon. (“We aren’t cowards, are we, Denzel? I’ve seen scarier parts of the Woods. We’ll regroup when we’ve found the girls,” Aric tutted, turning down the offer to join Chaddick’s team. I, for one, was devastated.)

“The sooner we get to killing that witch, the sooner we go back to Good and Evil,” Aric’s deep voice replied. He turned to me, twinkling violet eyes flashing in the dark. “But once Sophie is dead, the Girls will declare war on us Boys. Unless they make it to their castle and we have no choice but to storm it,” he turned back, his eyes storming. “Then I can finally get down to business.” 

“Business? What business do you have at this school?” I frowned. It was a reminder of how little I actually knew about Aric—his thoughts and motivations—and it left a bitter taste in my mouth. 

“Just wanted to pay my dear mother a visit,” Aric spat bitterly in distaste. Aric’s hand lifted from its place on his dagger and gave my shoulder a firm pat. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with, dear.” 

“Aric, what are you planning on doing?” I asked gravely. 

Aric’s eyes narrowed at me, eyebrows scrunched up in annoyance. His mouth pressed into a thin line. “Killing my nemesis,” Aric answered calmly, hopping over a felled tree log blocking the path. 

My blood ran cold upon hearing that. Strange, my throat was a lot drier than it was a couple of seconds ago. “But why would you want to kill your mother? Even if she did abandon you, that doesn’t give you a reason to—“

“You’re forgetting something about me, my dear. Something that sets us apart,” Aric interrupted, eyes blazing with vengeful resolve as he turned to look at me.

“I’m a villain,” he spat, making me freeze in my tracks, my heart stabbed through with fear. 

Alarms went off in my head, screaming and blaring and telling me with every fiber of my being to run. 

Villain! They wailed. He’s Evil! They cried. 

Run. 

Run!

But I didn’t. 

Aric was abandoned in the Endless Woods, where many horrifying, malicious creatures roamed. Of course, many would say that that wouldn’t justify his actions or say why he would go out of control and resort to matricide. After all, Guinevere of Camelot had abandoned her own son too, and Tedros turned out fine. I sometimes thought of them as two halves of the same coin. 

But. . . this wasn’t particularly the exact same case.

Unlike Tedros, Aric was a Never. I couldn’t possibly begin to understand his mind, given that I was an Ever. He didn’t need to defend her, or forgive her for leaving him without so much of a ‘goodbye.’ He felt that his mother didn’t love him anymore, so he would deny her the same feeling. Was this just a villain being a villain? Hester’s words came back to me in a memory, something she learned in Lesso’s class. 

Only the darkest and purest of Evil hearts can murder with purpose. Was this why he was anticipating war? So that he could have an opportunity to swoop in and murder his mother? 

Aric turned back to me, pointing a fire-tipped arrow in my direction, lighting up the space between us. “You coming or not?” 

I nodded and clambered over the thick tree limbs across the path. 

Aric snorted at the sight, turning away to laugh into his shoulder. “You can handle logs at the very least, right?” 

I wrinkled my nose at him as I hopped over a felled stump. “Yes, I can, Mr. Woodsman.”

“Mr. Woodsman,” Aric hummed, hands on his hips. “That’s new.” 

I snorted and rolled my eyes at how self-satisfied he looked. “Parents didn’t thrust me out into the woods to fend for myself for nothing.” 

“‘Least you had parents,” Aric mumbled, furrowing his eyebrows together. 

“I’m sorry.” I flinched, remembering the sensitive issue and hoped he wouldn’t turn around to berate me. 

Instead, Aric just clicked his tongue. “No need to dwell on those thoughts. We have more pressing matters at the moment.” 

My shoulders sagged at how he deflated so easily. Usually at the mention of subject he’d lash out with either his sharp knife or tongue but right now he just looked. . . defeated. 

I reached out to Aric’s sleeve and held onto it as we walked. 

He quirked an eyebrow at the action. “What? You scared?” 

“No,” I said quietly. “I’m. . . here with you. I’ll be right here.” 

Aric stared at me like I was some sort of freak of nature before he huffed and turned. 

But I smiled at how he never moved to brush my hand away. 

“Stop smiling at me. You know how I detest Ever smiles,” Aric glowered. 

“You’re just embarrassed because you think I’m cute.” 

“I will murder you where you stand,” he grunted. 

“We both know that’s a lie.” 

He spun around to pinch my nose. “You cheeky thing, I’ll—“ 

Aric froze in his place, staring past me far ahead. He pointed to a gap in the canopy, revealing a pocket of the night sky where the moon shone through. “You seeing this, Denzel?”

I looked up ahead to see a shimmery bubble, high over the trees past a particularly dense part of the woods. I could see the towering spires of a church, its old, rusty bell chiming and lights glowing from the cottages and houses illuminating the sides of the higher stone buildings. 

I gasp. “We’ve found it—“

Aric burst into a run, pulling me along with him by my arm. The trees broke into a wide clearing, revealing our target destination: Gavaldon. The quaint, excruciatingly simple village that we saw only in our storybooks, magical in its own way. 

Aric and I thrust our glowing fingers above our heads and shot winding twin flares into the air that intertwined with each other, lighting the starry sky with a deep violet and sterling silver, its bright light penetrating even the thickest of shadows in the forest.


	13. Feelings

I sank deeper into the steaming tub, filled to the brim with hot water and sighed as my aching limbs loosened. The mission took a heavy toll on us, making rounds back and fourth around the reader village for attacks for days followed by the chase through the Flowerground. Of course, Sophie and Agatha managed to escape to sanctuary in the Girls’ castle, leaving us with nothing. 

In the tub beside me, Chaddick grumbled, eyebrows furrowed together. 

I looked over at him. “What’s biting at you, mate? You okay?”

“Ah, he’s just angry that since he failed to kill Sophie in the Woods, Aric replaced him as captain.” Ravan rolled his eyes, throwing a towel over his wet, oily hair. “He’s got a lot more authority around here now.” 

My fingers pinched the bridge of my nose. “Ah, yes. All the better for him to harass me.” 

“You mean all of us,” weaselly Hort said. All at once, every single boy occupying the washroom shared looks of tortured brotherhood. 

Ravan took a seat beside me, washing out his hair. Wouldn’t do anything for the grease but at least he was trying. “You don’t have to act like you don’t like him, you know.”

I gulped. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean that we all know you like him.” Ravan huffed, fighting back the urge to roll his eyes again. 

I leaned my head back against the rim of the bathtub and covered my eyes with a soaked towel. Was it that obvious? Probably. “Speaking of Aric, where is he? And the rest of his henchmen, for that matter. I haven’t seen them go in with us.” 

My question was answered with the sound of scrubbing and running water. No one answered me. I gritted my teeth and ripped the towel from my face. “Are you all picking up that despicable habit of his too? That’s quite rude—“

I stared up at violet eyes blazing like warning flares and a mop of sopping black hair sitting on pale skin. 

“Looking for me?” Aric sneered down at me, arms folded across his bare chest. “How flattering.” 

I could only stiffen, eyes widening as I took in the sight of Aric, standing partially naked before me. Gaping at the strapping teenager’s rippling stomach and sturdy build, I quailed against the side of the tub, sinking deeper into the water. My mind shrieked as my nose dipped underwater. 

I could feel his piercing eyes hungrily inspecting my entire body as he smirked at my bashful state. “You’re strong, and a skilled fighter, but you really do have a lithe figure, don’t you?” His tongue darted out from his mouth and traced his bottom lip. 

My eyes studied his gleeful face, then trailed downwards until they reached the towel wrapped around his hips, ending at his mid-thigh. I caught myself gaping at his trim waist, staring at lines trailing off into a V down towards his— 

Immediately, I tore my eyes away and glanced over at the other boys, who were all occupied with trying to act naturally, averting their eyes while eavesdropping. I heard Aric click his tongue, shaking his head. “Do my eyes deceive me? Or were you really looking down there?” 

My face exploded into an unhealthy shade of red. I picked myself out of the tub and began slapping Aric with the towel in my hands as he cackled, shielding himself. 

I fumbled for something to say. “I—You were looking at me too, you perverted twat! You were standing right above my head with nothing but a skimpy towel on, I just accidentally looked there! Why would you care anyways, we’re all boys here—“ I shouted. 

“—Yes, of course it was an accident—“ 

“—Stop that!” 

**

“I can’t believe you did that!” I hissed, storming into the shared dorm. 

Aric followed me, rubbing at the spots where I hit him with a towel, shooing him out of the bath. The other boys gave me looks of horror, fearing for my safety as I did so, but Aric never laid a single finger against me. 

Aric replied with a crooked smile. “Of course. You’re just a joy to tease.” 

“Why do you tease me?” I asked, draping myself over Aric’s bottom bunk. I lay on my stomach and hugged his pillow, inhaling deeply through my nose. The smell of mint, wood and sweat invaded my nostrils. The boy smelled better than you would think he did for a Never. I felt the moth-eaten mattress dip on my side as Aric sat down. 

“Haven’t you been listening the first two times I told you? I said I have a soft spot for you,” Aric said.

“Is that why you don’t punish me?” I murmured, picking at a loose thread. “Is that why I wasn’t the first one at the end of your whip?”

Aric didn’t reply for a long while, scratching his cheek with his index finger. “What don’t you understand about ‘I have a soft spot for you’?” Aric sighed, “I like you.”

“Because you’ve always wanted someone who loved you? Since no one’s ever loved you before? Because everyone left you?” I said, softer. 

The teenager spun around to face me, annoyed. “You ask a lot of personal questions, don’t you?”

“That’s because you’re so unpredictable. You intrigue me.” I smiled softly. “You don’t think you’re worthy of love, do you? Deep down inside.” 

“Hmm, what do you think?” Aric stopped scratching his cheek to ruffle my hair, humming at how soft and fluffy my hair was. I noticed his cheek turning red where he scratched it. Did something bite him? 

I tapped my cheek while keeping my eyes on him, staring at the rosy pink spot on his face, silently asking him what was the matter. He narrowed his eyes, confused. To my surprise, Aric leaned in close to my face and kissed my cheek. 

I squeaked and smushed my hands over his face. “I—I—That’s not what I meant!”

Aric snickered, muffled by my hands squeezing his face. I pouted, jutting my bottom lip forward. This boy really did intrigue me. He wasn’t supposed to.

I huffed. “You’re earnest for such a ruthless villain. Cute, almost.”

“Oi, I don’t fancy being called cute. Villains don’t like being called cute,” Aric grunted, purposely lowering his (already deep) voice another octave. “It’s irritating. Makes us seem weak.”

“Fine, then. You can say something about me. Just this once.” 

“Something other than calling you ‘dear’ and ‘my sweet’?” 

“Yes.” I nearly cringed at how sugary his pet names for me were. I felt Aric’s big, calloused hand brush my cheek for a second before pulling back. 

“Well, for what it’s worth, I think you’re very pretty.” 

I felt my pride being questioned through the subtext but at the same time, my heart fluttered. I slapped my hands onto my hot cheeks, humming softly. “You’re so much more different when we’re alone together.” 

“Only for you, my dear,” Aric said, mocking a bow. 

“I thought you hated boys who didn’t act like boys. Like Tristan,” I remarked mildly. 

“I do.” 

I frowned and whipped towards him, perplexed. “Then why’re you with an apple tart like me? You said that I was ‘quite the feminine boy.’” 

“It’s true that I’m not fond of girls and of boys who don’t act like boys,” He said, “I actually considered taking you down into the dungeons myself a couple of times. But for some strange reason, I didn’t. Never did and I never found any motivation to. I think that the part inside me that loathed feminine boys just switched off when I was around you. Not that any other boy besides you didn’t bothered me as much as it normally did.” 

“Ah, so I am special,” I sniggered, making Aric do the same. 

“You coy little thing.” Aric pinched my cheek before I could say anything in protest. 

Aric hid a child inside of him. The innocent, naive curiosity that was never explored when Aric was younger. He seldom let it out, but when he did, it was only with me. 

I could hear the playfulness in his voice, unlike the seriousness and stern steely tone he had when he gave orders. His face and eyes were softer, full of life. Aric was looking at me with those eyes again. Those kind ones that made me question if he were truly a cold-blooded villain or not. Those eyes and that expression that he showed only to me behind closed doors. 

He smiled softly, unlike the cruel or mischievous ones that he usually faced me with. “Something inside me tells me that you’re different.” 

“I want you by my side with me, Denzel. I want to fight with you in the trial. We’ll be like that princess and the witch. A freaky dynamic duo that no one expects.” Aric chuckled lowly. Eyes that were so endearing and childlike bore into my own, twinkling like stars under the dim candlelight. I felt my breath being taken away from me as I stared into them. So deep, but so clear at the same time. 

Eyes that he showed to no one else but me. 

“You mean that? A villain and a prince?” I said quietly, eyes wide as Aric turned away and ignored me, instead, choosing to occupy himself with undoing his shirt laces. 

“I feel happy when you’re here next to me,” Aric shrugs. I hum and my lips betray me as a smile smears itself onto my face. I couldn’t stop no matter how hard I tried. Aric caught my uncontrollable grin, making me laugh. 

“You make me feel so special, Aric,” I whisper, “I’ve never been given this much attention before when I was a child, you know. Because I was a prince and I could fight and fend for myself. But I’m not a prince when I’m with you. I’m just Denzel with Aric.”

“Is that so?” Aric asked. “You know, I don’t think I’m really fond of a world without princes,” he thought aloud. 

“Really? Why’s that?”

When I wasn’t looking, Aric slipped his hand into mine, grasping it gently. “Because that would mean that you wouldn’t be here. And I wouldn’t really be fond of that.” 

Aric, who was usually a lone fighter, found that he was stronger when he had someone to protect.

“He what?” Ravan wasn’t the only one staring at me in disbelief. 

“He said I was pretty,” I whispered absentmindedly, eyes clouded and glassy with a wistful smile on my lips. I tapped my cheek. “Kissed me right here, he did.” 

I jabbed at Vex’s loaf of bread with my fork. “You gonna eat that, mate?” 

The boys gaped dumbly at me like a barrel fish. “He what?”


	14. Girls, Girls, Girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear, I don't remember the exact dialogue or what went down in these particular scenes in the book and I lent the book to my friend so I can't refer back to it. Sorry, tried my best to go off of memory. Hope y'all can bear with it ;)

The longer I got to know him, the more comfortable the silence was. The air was less fraught with the reek of my fear and more a warm, fuzzy feeling that was slowly wriggling its way into us. Now, I would follow Aric around, acting as his secretary of sorts, jotting down notes and concerns, and going around on my own to manage security. 

“What do we do now?” I asked, trailing behind Aric down the hallway. “Now that the girls got away.” 

Aric frowned, eyes flashing with predatory instinct. “We wait.”

I raised an eyebrow. “We wait? We’re going to wait for a war?”

“The girls will come to us eventually. And when they do, we’ll snap them up and destroy them,” Aric said it as if it were the simplest thing in the world. 

I shot him a look.

Aric glanced over at me and sighed. “Well. . . I want to destroy them, but no, they’re your friends—“

“Aric, I’m serious.” 

“Fine, fine,” Aric conceded. “I want a war. A commotion. Whatever happens to them doesn’t concern me in the least anyways.“

“Captain!” A henchman of Aric’s rounded the corner, nearly smashing into us. “It’s her! The girl is here!” 

Aric blinked at the boy like he had grown another head. “Oh. That was quick.” 

We immediately took off down the hallway after the henchman, past the dorms and the common rooms and down the crooked flights of stairs to the dining area. 

“Did something set off the spiricks?” Aric barked. 

The surly henchman nodded. “They’re going crazy out there, captain. Hort reported it. Also started blabbering about some girl that stole his clothes? You know, his usual jabber. Oh, he’s naked down there, by the way.” 

“Idiot,” Aric muttered. He rolled his eyes and jabbed his chin down another hallway. “Go call the rest of the team. I’ll grab whoever’s in the foyer. Get down there immediately.” 

“Yes, sir!” The boy answered sharply and disappeared down the hallway to the commons. 

I waited, expecting him to order me to go with him. I often worked with his lackeys on patrols, but Aric was more privy to keeping me by his side. I wanted to work, however, and staying by a boy who could keep me safer than a stone golem meant that my daily routine was stale, to say the least. I would’ve jumped at any opportunity to stretch my muscles. 

Aric glanced over. “Denzel, you’re staying with me.” 

“What?” I exclaimed, “But I can go gather the boys in the dining hall—“

“You’re staying with me,” Aric said, “The girls know you well, so you can negotiate with them if need be. They’ll trust you more than any other boy in this castle.” 

“And besides,” Aric snarled, nose wrinkled. “You’re the only one I actually trust to get the job done.” 

I pursed my lips but I couldn’t argue with that. 

Down more flights of stairs and past even more empty (and occasionally, flooded) rooms, we came across more members of Aric’s party. He sent them singular glares from across the room and they bolted from their places out the door, grabbing bows and whatever weapons they had on them. Aric had that quality about him. 

He instilled fear. 

Boys in bloodred cloaks stormed down the castle steps, drawing their weapons with ferocity in their eyes. A boy with sharp purple eyes led the charge, chest out and a strong will in his heart. The sight was enough to make any boy cow against the walls, pressing their backs to the stairwell walls to clear the path. They were a whirlwind, a wolf pack, that commanded respect wherever they went. 

And fear created a certain loyalty. 

“Charge!” Aric shouted, and the boys followed his order. A dozen boys ran out the stone archways into the foliage, weapons raised, ready to fight and defend the school. During their trek through the castle, they prepared themselves to face down a powerful, cunning, grande high witch ultimate. They were prepared to fight a gold-hearted princess with an entire army of blood-thirsty Girls at her disposal. They prepared themselves to be ready to kill, and to die themselves. 

But all they found outside was a pit of needle-spiked snakes hissing at each other and clambering over one another in confusion. 

Aric shot a purple spell at one and it hissed at him. “Stupid spiricks.” 

I didn’t miss the breaths of relief from the boys behind me. Still, the hairs on the back of my neck were raised, like I should be looking for something. Like I was already looking at something right in front of me. Right under my nose. 

“Strange for them to be acting like this for nothing, though,” I said, and I notice Aric purse his lips and shift uncomfortably, eyes darting between the ground and I. He noticed it too. 

“If not here, then back inside,” I said, urging him with my eyes. “Let’s go back.” 

Aric gave the spiricks one last look and turned around to the boys. “You heard him.” 

With muffled grunts, the boys made their way back inside the castle, taking their places behind Aric’s back once again. Even if it was nothing, I could tell that Aric’s senses were still alert. Still keen. His eyes still darted to that shadow on the wall. He still flicked his dagger from its sheath on his belt when a boy popped out from behind a pillar. 

I pressed my hand to his arm, feeling his muscles relax under my touch. 

“I have a feeling that was no false alarm,” Aric muttered. 

There was an unmistakable, rhythmic buzz that grew louder as we went further into the school, like the call of the cicadas. The buzz shifted into shouting and it was obvious there was a commotion past the doorway, yelling and chanting and Chaddick’s voice cutting through the air unintelligibly. 

The dining room. 

The pack stood up straight again, boots thundering through the stone castle.  
“It’s a mess in there.” My nose wrinkled at the smell permeating through the air, wafting from the dining room. Rancid like bile and who else knew what. 

“Typical.” Aric bared his teeth, squared his shoulders and stomped out, fingerglow blazing. He shot a spell at Chaddick that sealed the ringleader’s lips. 

Chaddick clawed at his lips for purchase to find none, his chant halted mid-sentence. Every head in the room turned to the doorway where Aric and the rest of us emerged from the archway. 

Suddenly, Hort burst into the room, dragging a girl behind him (more like she was dragging him). “I’ve got her! I’ve got the witch! I’ve got—“ 

I looked towards the center of the fray to see them surrounding a boy. Frail and skinny with a bowl haircut and pallid skin. Strange, though. He looked familiar. 

I looked closer. 

No. Not a boy. 

Not a boy at all. 

Hort pulled the hood off of her to reveal Agatha instead. He gulped. “Not Sophie.” 

“Agatha!” I gasped as Aric stepped towards the princess. 

“How did you get in?” Aric bared his teeth at Agatha.

Agatha held her ground, big eyes boring into Aric’s. “Take me to your leader.” 

“And why should I?” He snarled. 

And Agatha told us about Sophie. About the blackened teeth. About the warts. About the symptoms. About how Sophie was turning into the witch everyone had thought she was all along. About how she was here to take Tedros back and to defeat the witch once and for all. 

And Aric hung onto every word. 

At the end of it all, Aric glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, calm like he was immune to the unease in the room. 

I gave him a silent nod. 

Aric turned his gaze back to Agatha and jabbed his chin forward. “Follow me.” 

I breathed a sigh of relief for my friend’s safety. 

“Denzel. With me.” Aric pointed at me as he walked out of the room with Agatha close on his heels. 

I scrambled to keep up with them. 

The three of us weaved through the narrow corridors until we reached the catwalk leading to the Schoolmaster’s tower. Aric kept a brisk pace, with Agatha falling behind slightly behind us on the spiraling steps. The silence was infallible and thick with tension and Agatha thought to break it with questions. An exchange of information. As expected, he gave her the classic Aric Hospitality and Charm and shut her up for the rest of the trek. 

I sidled up to Aric, trying to hide any sign of ulterior motive with a smile. It worked with Aric scrunching his nose up, pink dusting his cheeks. 

“So,” I started. 

Aric raised an eyebrow. “So?”

I shoved my hands into my pockets and shrugged. “Where’d you learn that spell from?” 

“You mean that lip-sealing spell?” Aric asked. “You like it?” 

“Yeah, sure.” I rolled my eyes. “It was hot.” 

Aric snorted. “Would you like me to perform that spell on you too?”

“Gagging me? I’m sure you’d enjoy that.” 

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you flirting with me right now?” 

“Am I?” I fired back without missing a beat. 

Aric scoffed and swaggered down the catwalk ahead of me, leaving me behind with Agatha. 

Good. I slowed down to walk alongside her. 

Agatha hugged her arms closer in the wind and eyed Aric warily up front, stalking down the narrow catwalk like a panther in the brush. “You’re working with him now?” 

“Tedros assigned me under him,” I said, low under my breath so that Aric couldn’t hear. “Thought I’d be a good addition to his disciplinary team. And I could gather intel on his motive for Tedros.” 

“And?” She asked expectantly. 

“And his motives aren’t related to your story,” I said, “At least, not as far as I know. He’s helping the boys. For now.” 

Agatha wrung her bony hands. “And how’s Tedros been?” 

“He’d be glad to see you,” I said, “He’s in a wretched state. Like his school.” 

“You couldn’t pick him up?” Agatha asked, “After the whole. . . thing?” 

“Couldn’t tell after he ordered the attack on you two? On your village?” I frowned down at Agatha and she winced. “It takes time to heal a broken heart, Agatha. Especially when it’s still in love.” 

“That’s why I’m here,” Agatha said, determination burning in her eyes. “To make things right.” 

I only press my lips together tightly and nod. “I hope so.” 

Finally, the Schoolmaster’s tower loomed above us, a spear of cobblestone and mist with a thick rope of coarse blonde hair flowing down the side of the spire. 

Aric gave me a look and latched onto it. He turned and sneered down at me from the rope of hair. “Think you can still climb this thing?” 

I snarled and grabbed a fistful of hair, hoisting myself up easily. “Mind you, I’ve been here longer than you have.” 

Aric smirked and made a show of scaling the tower, easily swinging himself upward like a monkey. 

I looked over my shoulder to Agatha. “Think you can manage yourself?” 

Agatha didn’t answer my question and instead latched onto the rope behind us. Always was a strong princess, she was. Aric hummed in satisfaction and turned back around. 

Slowly, the three of us made our way up to the window, the air silent except for the gusts of wind past our ears and an occasional grunt. At the top, of course, Aric was first to clamber over the window followed by me. I felt my arms burning and berated myself for slacking off on workouts as Aric stretched beside me. 

“Aric and Denzel. What’s the matter?” Tedros asked, pacing the floor. 

I leaned over the edge of the window to help Agatha up, pulling her the rest of the way. I caught the way Tedros stared at the princess, slack-jawed as she stared him down, fury and determination alight in her eyes. 

It was full of love. 

I patted Aric’s shoulder. 

“We should leave them alone,” I said quietly to Aric. 

He wrinkled his nose at the sight of the two and followed me down the rope. 

The trek to the ground was considerably easier, although I had to make sure not to look down. We walked side by side again like we always did—silently, but comfortably. I looked over to see Aric in thought, eyes locked to the floor. He glanced back at the tower every so often. 

“Aric?” I asked. 

Distracted, he said nothing. His eyes were unfocused and hazy and he nearly tripped twice. I grasped his arm and we both halted. Under my fingers, Aric’s stiff muscles relaxed. He straightened out the wrinkles between his brows as he turned to look at me. 

“Something wrong?” I asked softly, kneading his arm. 

Aric gently pried my fingers away with his other hand. 

“An eerie feeling. Probably nothing.” Aric shook his head and shoved his hands into his pockets. 

I reached up to his face and stroked away the wrinkles between his brows, hearing him sigh at my touch. “If you’re sure.” 

We continued to walk back down the catwalk in terse silence. Halfway down, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise and prickle. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked out into the wind towards the Girls castle. Eerily still and regal with its glassy blue finish. 

Suddenly, Aric grabbed my arm and froze. Hackles raised, Aric perked up like a dog, squinting out the window. “Something’s not right.” 

But I wasn’t looking at him. Instead, a drop of red caught the edge of my eye. It was just a sliver, dripping down the brick just out of sight at the edge of the catwalk. 

Aric followed my eyes and saw it too. He knelt down to the step jutting from the ground. “Fresh blood.” 

He turned to me, eyes wide. “The tower.”

I nodded. Agatha didn’t get hurt on the way up. So that meant. . . 

My heart was pounding in my chest. This meant that maybe Sophie had found a way in. They were coming to steal back the Storian and to restore balance to the world. Was Agatha lying the entire time? But then. . . Maybe they could end this. 

Aric stabbed a finger out the window, shooting a flare that painted the stars purple. He turned to me. “We have to gather the others—“

I had drawn a knife from my belt and held it to Aric’s throat. I willed my hand to stop shaking against his skin. To look him in the eyes and demand what I wanted. 

He froze, skin pricked by the edge. But a slow smile only crawled onto his face, as if he felt no intent. 

“You aren’t going to stop me, are you?” Aric peered down at me, amused. “The girls will make us their slaves. Men are already outcasts outside of these gates. Take a look around you.” 

“Not all girls.” I glared up at him, resolute. “Not my friends. They want to end this war. We can help them get the Storian. They can go home and their story will end and they’ll be out of our lives.” 

Aric shook his head. “Not out of Tedros’. He won’t let them. Not ever. It’ll always come back to this. Back to war.” 

I forced the knife against the underside of his adam’s apple, grazing the skin of his neck, brows knitted. 

“So pick a side.” Aric’s voice was calm as he pushed the knife away from his throat with his finger. 

Normally, I would have thought that Aric would’ve be smiling—grinning—at the prospect of the boys rushing up the stairs to see me, a traitor loyal to the Girls, in their midst. I thought he would’ve been giddy at the thought of seeing a boy aligned with a girl’s cause torn to shreds in a bloodbath. 

But he wasn’t smiling now. He was giving me a choice. 

“Quickly now, dear,” Aric said, his voice clear over the thundering boots just beneath them. “Please.” 

I bit back my tears and stashed the knife into its sheath. “Let’s go.” 

We stalked back up the catwalk at a brisk pace, matching the cacophonous roar of footsteps behind us. I let it drown out my fatigue and the wear in my muscles, dread seeping out of me. I didn’t know what I was fighting for anymore. 

Aric was right. There was no way to stop this war. This was what fate had planned for us. What the Storian planned for us. 

Aric grabbed my wrist and yanked me beside him. 

I looked up and realized I had fallen behind. 

He was gripping my hand tight, forging ahead without looking back at me. Without looking back at the team or at the girl’s castle, still glowing sinisterly behind us in the night. 

“Forward, Denzel. Sometimes that’s the only direction you can move.” 

Something told me that he spoke from experience. From deep in Aric’s heart, nestled in the depths of his childhood. From his own fear. 

Forward. 

Move forward. No matter what fear stands before you. 

Maybe if we manage to keep going through this fairytale, we can make it out. Like the constant peril of the dark Endless Woods, if we keep moving forward, we’ll eventually make it out. 

Strong. 

That’s what I thought he was. 

He was strong.


	15. Pestilence

Aric and I rushed the School Master’s tower only to find Tedros on his knees in the darkness, cradling his head in his hands, the girls long gone. Aric slammed a fist into the wall, gritting his teeth, chest heaving with breath. 

“I knew this would happen,” He said lowly, barely audible over the thunder of boots as the rest of the boys rushed the tower. 

Somewhere in my heart, I knew it would too. 

“Tedros, what happened?” I asked only to be met with silence. 

Towards the wall there was a furious scratching sound and the rustle of paper. I walked over to the Storian, its cover slammed open haphazardly, painting the scene before it in a rush of color. Tedros was in the center, battered and betrayed in the darkness. Meanwhile, the two princesses were escaping from the tower back to the Girls’ school, glowing a haunting blue. 

I had hoped for this. Wished for this. For any means to end this standoff. But I had hoped that the girls would find the Storian, make their wish and go home. And it was still right here, right in front of me, in this very tower. 

“Tedros,” I turned back to him, stern. “What. Happened?” 

Slowly, Tedros lifted his head, staring into the moonlight through the window, bathing his face in a deathly pale glow. Unlike how the sunlight made him shimmer and radiate Goodness, the moon sharpened his features; made him seem like more of an adult. Like a child who’d grown up too quickly. 

“I shouldn’t have trusted her.” Tedros said, his voice a low growl. “I shouldn’t have trusted her at all.” 

I caught Aric out of the corner of my eye, lips quirked upwards and mouthing _‘told you so.’ _

My throat went dry, like someone had stuffed a wad of cotton down my mouth. “So what do we do now?” 

Tedros stood up and glared at the blue castle across the moat. “Excellent question. _What do we do now?”_

Tedros reared back to Aric, eyes darkening. “The boys. Let them in.” 

And I could only watch as Aric answered him with a grin like a cheshire cat’s, eyes wide with manic. _“Yes, sir.” _

Then he whirled to Chaddick. “Get your arrows, Chaddick. I want to send the Girls a message.” 

Chaddick gave his friend a salute and started back down the rope with a smaller gaggle of boys. 

“What are you planning, Tedros?” I asked, swallowing down the lump in my throat. I hated how my voice cracked. It gave away vulnerability. It gave away my weakness. And this was the one time I didn’t want to seem weak. 

Tedros turned to me, glowering with eyes filled with hurt and betrayal. “A war.” 

Aric raised his glowing finger — the same shade of purple as the shield — and closed his eyes, simmering in concentration. Behind us were the rest of his henchmen with their weapons at arms just in case the men rushed them through the barrier. They stood nearby, unable to sit lest they would rather face Aric’s wrath and a half-winded lecture. 

I looked up at the trees shielding us from view of the Girl’s castle across the moat. We picked a good spot. The boy’s campsite stretched all the way over to our school, forming a long crescent encampment around the front side of the bubble. But right at the edge of the site was an embankment of trees that was enough to shield our party from view to prevent the girls from realizing what we were doing and taking action. That was, if Aric could work fast enough. 

Before, no one had actually questioned _how_ Aric had broken the shield. Even now no one dared to breathe in his direction, let alone ask. But watching him now, it was a spectacle to see Lady Lesso’s impenetrable shield — one that kept all malicious intruders (except for Aric) at bay — being split apart. 

Just beyond the shield, the other princes and humiliated kings only looked at Aric bemusedly before returning to their campsites, shaking their head. These men were nothing like how I had seen them before my time at school. Unlike the regal fabrics they sported before, they now had dirty faces, stained clothing and bags under their eyes like raccoons. It was a sight; to see the noble men of kingdoms both Good and Evil in one place, stripped of their honor. 

They eyed us curiously. A small, lithe prince and a freakishly handsome villain with a band of burly boys answering to us. It wasn’t the first time we’ve had stares. A boy together with another boy certainly wasn’t conventional in fairy tales. 

I felt a hand around my waist pull me closer to Aric’s side. Aric pressed his other glowing hand to the shield. “Stay close to me.”

I saw him eye the other side of the barrier warily. “What’s the matter?” 

“You don’t know what they’ll do,” Aric said, “Some of these men become deranged after losing their power. Some are hell-bent on revenge. And some of these men have more. . . lecherous intent.” 

I wrapped my cloak closer to myself, a hand readied on my sword. 

I heard a crack, like an eggshell breaking, and looked to the shield to see a crevice opening up in the shield. The boys on the other side stood with their jaws dropped in awe, stepping from their camps again to crowd around the shield where Aric and the rest of the henchmen were standing. 

“Strange, isn’t it? A talent that shields. A talent that _protects_,” Aric said, staring wistfully up at the barrier, bathed in a purple sheen. “A Never with Good’s talent.” 

“Lady Lesso never was the conventional villain,” I said, watching the crack split wider. 

“And I was gifted this talent too. Except I’ll take my mother’s work and use it to attack her and everything she’s ever loved instead,” Aric spat. He whirled to me, eyes ablaze. “Like a _real_ villain.” 

Huffing in exertion, Aric stared up at the schools, one red and the other blue, and leaned against the shield as princes thronged into the clearing. He stared up at the schools sadly. “She must love this school. She must love it a lot to use this shield.” 

“How do you know?” I said quietly. 

Aric’s throat bobbed, eyes misty. “Once upon a time, she used it to protect _me_.” 

There it was again. That vulnerable reminiscence. I saw his fingerglow flicker, then glow strong and saturated. 

Aric blinked away the haze and shook his head, muttering, “What am I saying?”

“You’re saying your mother loved you.” 

“No,” Aric said quietly. “My mother doesn’t love me anymore. She chose the school over her own child. She abandoned me. She fears me. She’ll _kill_ me.” 

I shook my head, trying to persuade him. “What if she didn’t have a choice between you and the school? What if she was forced to give you up?” 

“She could have quit. She could have bargained. She could have pushed harder,” Aric growled, a surge of light flowed from his hands into the shield, inching the crevice open. “Maybe she loved me. But she didn’t love me _enough_.” 

“And I don’t love her.” Aric turned away from me, teeth gnashed, brows furrowed and eyes misty. 

I knew how much his mother’s abandonment affected Aric. I knew how much it hurt him. Any mention of Lady Lesso would make him stiffen, and the life drained from his face. It was like he was wrapping bandage after bandage over a scar, praying that it would heal when it never would. I didn’t want to see him like this. 

I didn’t want the wound to open again. To get infected and spread. 

“You could still repair things with her,” I said, “It’s never too late.” 

Aric sighed. “You’re too Good, Denzel.”

There was no hesitation in his eyes. Only resolve, burning in the embers of vengeance. Aric seethed, “There are some things you can’t go back from. There are some things you can’t just _fix_ with Goodness. And that’s final.” 

But there were some things you couldn’t heal. 

So it’ll eventually rot. 

The sun was starting to set, turning the orange sky into a dusky purple. The trees casted shadows over the camp, hiding us from the torches of the Girl’s castle. Directly above us, the windows of the Boy’s school were lit a treacherous red, tinting the fog between the castles. I frowned. The longer we stayed, the more likely a girl was to look outside the window and see the pack of boys that were once outside their castle migrate to their side. 

Luckily, by the time the men started to get bored of watching a boy funnel magic into a bubble, the crack was about as broad as a large carriage. At that, the henchmen stepped up and ushered the boys through the hole, guiding the men into the clearing behind the trees. Beside me, Aric was breathing harder than he normally would, focusing his gaze on a fixed point on the shield. I squeezed his hand tighter, watching his purple glow bathe his face in light. 

“Should practice your talent more,” I mumbled to Aric. “You’re exhausted and it’s only been an hour. Speaking of which, it’s been an hour.” 

Aric shot me a look and his hand stopped glowing. “It’s finished anyways.” 

I grinned to tease him. “I know. That hole’s big enough to fit a giant.” 

Aric huffed like a toddler. Or, well, a really sweaty one. 

“Would it kill you to practice some magic?” I rubbed Aric’s back as he bent over to catch his breath. “Because at this rate, it looks like it really will.” 

“Very funny.” He leaned up and stretched his muscles, stiff after an hour of standing in place. I tried not to make it obvious that I was staring but Tedros really did a good job on that sleeveless shirt design — 

“Enjoying the view?” 

Shoot. 

“No,” I lied. 

Aric snickered and took in another gulp of air. “Go ahead, dear. I don’t mind.” 

Even his teasing lacked its usual luster. 

I cupped his cheeks in my hands and quietly asked, “Are you tired?” 

Aric breathed out a sigh and nodded, staring emptily behind me. “It’s been a while since I’ve performed mother’s spell.” 

I cooed and pressed his face against my shoulder, stroking his spiky hair while he took his time recharging. 

“We shouldn’t do this. They’re right over there —“ Though as he said that, he was gripping my waist, pulling me closer. 

I shushed him, rubbing circles into the back of his neck. “We’re behind the trees and it’ll take a while to get that entire camp over here. We have time.” 

He hummed and mouthed at my neck in response. 

“Okay, _that_ we can’t do here —“ I giggled, patting his back. He chuckled and snaked an arm around my hips, burying his face deeper into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around his hulking frame, warm like a human furnace while his breath fanned my neck. We spent a couple of minutes like that, slowly swaying in time to the breeze rustling the trees. A couple of minutes to ourselves like we were the only two in the world in our very own haven. 

I patted Aric’s shoulder when his breathing evened out. “You okay?” 

He nodded and his hair poked my nose. 

“What did you think about?” I asked, curling a strand of hair around my finger. “While you were making your finger glow.” 

Aric spoke softly, like it took a lot of effort out of him. “At first, I thought of my mother. Made me angry. Frustrated. But it also made me tired. I thought about what you said earlier.” 

I cast my eyes downward, rubbing his fingers with a soft, “Oh.” 

He took my hand and brushed his lips over my knuckles. “Then I thought of you. Standing right next to me, holding my hand, and encouraging me like my own personal cheerleader.” 

One of the henchmen stood at the edge of the trees and gave me a thumbs up and pointed to the men behind him, all past the shield. I returned the gesture and shook Aric’s shoulder. “We gotta get back now, Aric.” 

“Maybe next time I’ll find you a skirt to wear while you cheer me on,” Aric mumbled absently, hands roaming over my back. 

I reddened and gaped at him in horror. “You must really be exhausted, uh — how about we just go — yeah, let’s go get the others —“

He purred. “I’ll settle for shorts —“ 

Panicking, I pulled him away into the fray. “No, no, no. We are going to have you round up those boys, come on.”

The crowd was gathered around us, muttering expectantly about a schoolmaster and a war. They probably expected Tedros instead of the school’s disciplinary captain to lead the assault. A no-name villain who wasn’t even a student training a pseudo-army? 

“You ready, captain?” One of the henchman asked Aric. He fumbled with the strap of his axe.

Even the lackeys were fidgeting with anticipation at their posts. Were all boys usually this obsessed with war and violence? Did this opportunity unlock some hidden taboo that they had? Though despite my thoughts, I too was nervous. This would be their first impressions of the school. A good speech meant the difference between loyalty and losing. 

The only one with any sense of control over himself was, of course, Aric. Always composed. Always cool. Always eloquent. Poised like the best villains of old. 

“Ready?” Aric stretched his arm over his head, eyes flashing a brilliant violet in the dusk. “I have to be.” 

I had utmost faith in him. If anyone could do this, it was Aric. Aric, who had a villain’s natural charisma. A boy’s charisma. A _warrior's_ charisma. And that was just what we needed. 

The henchman nearly dropped his axe on his foot. “Captain, will you be able to get their attention or should we bang some shields?”

“I’ll be fine, thank you,” Aric replied. He turned to me, his icy exterior melting to allow a wink. “Kiss for good luck?” 

I scoffed and shoved him forward. “After you save our hides from slavery.” 

Watching him at the front, he seemed small. Even at his height, his broad shoulders were nothing compared to the sea of men before them. He always looked bigger by my side. 

Then he rolled his shoulders and straightened up his spine. Aric took a deep breath and cast his piercing gaze over the crowd. 

“Fallen kings. Fallen warlords. _Fallen men_,” Aric addressed the masses. They all silenced and turned to him. 

Inwardly, I cheered. That’s my Aric. 

“Our schoolmaster has just formally declared war upon the Girls.” Aric paused to let the severity of the situation sink in. “We have decided to recruit you all to fight with us against them. To bring back Good and Evil. To bring things back to the way they were.” 

This elicited murmurs from the boys. Hesitant, but with a buzzing energy. Aric silenced them with a blast of a flare from his finger into the sky. 

I winced. Hopefully the girls didn’t see that over in their castle. 

“We didn’t let you all in to play patty-cake or braid each others’ hair. We need all the manpower we can get to defeat that wretched witch and that princess,” Aric spat, “As of now, we are preparing for war. And I expect to whip you all into shape to fight like your lives depend on it.” 

A straggler held up a heavy, leather-bound storybook and pointed to it. “Is it true? Has Tedros wagered our freedom to the girls?” 

“Will we become slaves?” Another cried. This caused another outrage. They banged their swords and spears and shields. 

Aric growled and this time, shot a flare into the grass, startling the men in the front. He bared his teeth in a snarl like a wolf. “Even _better_. Now you all have something to fight for.” 

The boys shirked under his glare. 

“You will obey us. Fight for us. And we will lead you to victory,” Aric continued, “Are we all on the same page?” 

A hesitant few grunted out a lowly “yes.” The rest of them glanced at each other skeptically, unsure about putting their lives in the hands of teenagers. Their muttering blanketed tension and fear through the air. 

Well, they seem to have forgotten that empires were _built_ by teenagers.

For a split second I could have sworn Aric’s violet eyes flashed red. “Listen here, so-called boys. We will not win the war if you pansies continue to drivel and hide from those girls. We win by taking action. By _fighting._ So I will only ask once more. _Are we on the same page?”_

Their battlecry came louder and stronger than before, resounding through the clearing. Boys from above poked their heads through the windows, and the crogs in the rust-red moat snapped their jaws. The red castle seemed to glow with renewed energy, emitting its aura across the moat. 

_“YES!”_

Tedros glared at me, gesturing to the dozens and dozens of books strewn about around himself and Tristan. Tristan quickly averted his eyes away from mine, poring over a moth-eaten book of potions instead. Next to them were a row of coffins, each housing one of the male teachers — both Good and Evil. I couldn’t help but think that it was nice to see them united like that. Save for the circumstances. 

“You refuse to help me?” Tedros seethed, teeth bared. I sensed no ferocity from him. Only the empty intimidation of a _child._

_I refuse to hurt my friends,_ I boiled, _and you’re not exactly not a burning ball of hatred right now._ I calmed myself to a simmer and gritted my teeth. “I have other duties to attend to now that I’m one of Aric’s henchmen.” 

Tedros was unconvinced. “So now after you’ve gotten close with that dog, you’re turning your backs on your friends?” 

“I’m not turning my back on you,” I scoffed in disbelief, “Besides, it was you who agreed to have me work under him.” 

“I thought you said you wanted to go back to the way it was: Good and Evil. To restore order to this school,” Tedros said, slamming a hand down onto the book, face red with fury. 

“I do,” I retorted, “And I know that you two are perfectly capable of figuring out this small roadblock on your own. Besides, what do you think I could possibly contribute to this?” 

Tedros muttered under his breath. “Your talent, perhaps.” 

“Well sorry, but my talent can’t help with your woes.” 

“Sorry. Wouldn’t know ‘cause we’ve never even seen your talent,” Tedros groused under his breath. “Coward.” 

Tristan winced at Tedros’ words. “Well. . . what is your talent, Denzel?” 

I rolled my eyes. “Raising the dead.”

Tedros stood from his spot on the ground, displacing the pile of books on his lap and kicking up dust into the air. “Talentless freak,” Tedros lashed out in anger, “How did you even get into this school?” 

As if on cue, Aric rounded the corner, blissfully unaware of the conflict. “Everything okay here, Master Tedros?” Aric asked, “I heard yelling.” 

Tedros eyed him up and down with disdain. “Here to rescue your princess?” 

Aric’s mood instantly soured. He narrowed his eyes at Tedros, fists clenching at his side. “From a monstrous ogre? Perhaps.” 

Aric smirked when Tedros balled up his fists, veins popping from the side of his neck. Aric waved me over. “Come here, my sweet princess. Security inspections await us.” 

I followed Aric, letting him drape an arm over my hip. I gave Tedros one last glance to see him glaring at our backs, steam pouring from his ears. “At least we know where your loyalties lie!” 

Aric pulled me along faster and faster down the hallway past onlookers and those drawn by Tedros’ incessant shouting. “Don’t listen to him. He’s just jealous. Jealous that we have love while his slipped from his fingers,” Aric said into my ear as he towed me by the waist. He stood tall. Proud that he’s whisked me away. 

But the last thing I heard from Tedros rang in my mind, gnawing at me like an infection. It birthed an insecurity deep in my heart. Betrayal. The prospect of loneliness. 

I wrung my hands. Rubbed at my neck. Fidgeted with my shirt. 

I am always loyal to you, friend. That would never change.


End file.
